


More than just Bones and Feathers

by ChibiKittens



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Accidental Drug Use, Adding tags as I go along, Alternate Universe - Bittybones, Angst, Backstory for Muse!, Beastly Reader, Beasttale- Human Version, Cancer, Delilah's being a flirt, Fluff, Halloweeeeeeeen, Hehehe, Hospital, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, No Smut, Past Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Reader is birdlike, Reader-Insert, Sansy bitty, Swearing, Violence, Vore, Vore-like Elements, accepting prompts/ideas/requests, some Humans are animalistic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2018-09-19 14:09:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 65,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9444800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiKittens/pseuds/ChibiKittens
Summary: Once, Humans bore magic within their SOULs. We're all well aware that that's no longer the case today, but whatever happened to those who used to wield it? Well, as it turns out, they changed...Over time, their skin made way to scales and fur. Nails and teeth sharpened to a fine point, and instincts won out over mind and SOUL alike. Most other Humans simply avoided them, and for the most part it worked, and both were left to craft their own worlds.Yet, what's to say of the Bitties abandoned by cruel owners? What of those left in alleyways and dumped on the dark streets that make up these animalistic beings homes?What will happen when you, one such Human, is dragged to a literal hunting party and crosses paths with one such Bitty?





	1. Out of the Frying Pan...

He hardly had any time to process what happened.

He, a Sansy Bitty- an abandoned one slouching in a grimy alleyway- had been minding his own business. A sour smell permeated through the half closed trash bins that lined the walls, a weak slice of sunlight filtered over the high walls of the buildings that flanked him all around, and for the most part, it had been quiet. He had been left there since yesterday, and he closed his eyesockets, trying his damnest to reign in his sorrow.

How...how could _she_?! A flash of fury swept over him as his thoughts once more overwhelmed him that day, and his teeth ground together as a feminine face flashed into his mind. He was cold, abandoned, and lost far away from home; all because of her. He had absolutely no clue where he had been dumped, but it smelled strongly of dead rat and rotting meat, and the air buzzed as fat flies sputtered around and occasionally bumped into his skull.

The last thing he should've been doing was laying around uselessly, yet that was exactly what he was doing as a sense of hopelessness washed over him. He needed to get up, and get home. He needed to get back to _him_ , yet he reasoned that he was too small. Piteously so, and he knew that most everything in this world posed a serious, terrifying threat to him. Hell, one wrong step and he could be accidentally dusted by an oblivious Human walking down the street.

So what was the point?

A heavy sigh breezed out from his nasal cavity as he raked a hand down his face. He had given up...

Yet that didn't mean that it hurt any less.

His SOUL ached horribly as the loss of his friend and home started to truly set in. His ribs constricted under his blue jacket, and despite his clenched jaw a few wet sobs began to slip out.

Thinking back on it, this was probably what gave his presence away.

The weak golden sunlight was quickly drowned out by a chilly shadow. The Sansy shivered and pulled his jacket on tighter, starting to slip away into a restless nap before something massive wrapped around his whole body.

A squeak was forced from him as the thing around him lifted him up, and he felt a hard pressure begin to squeeze him. He let out a rasping wheeze right as a triumphant chuckle rumbled from above him.

That laugh send shivers racing up his spine. Slowly opening his eyes, he glanced up...

And up...

And up...

And the he screamed.

Towering straight overhead, with their meaty hands crushing him into their palm, was a huge Human. But that's not even the worst of it.

Sansy has heard of this type of Human before, from news stories to brief conversations held between his owner or passerbys, but had never seen one for himself. They were Beast Humans; animalistic people that broke away from the others on the evolutionary track; back when Humanity still had magic. While regular Humans remained more or less the same as their magic slowly ebbed away, these ones held onto theirs, and were changed into something much different as time went on. Human Magic used to be used for spells, cursings, and even behaved like Monster Magic at times, but became altered and infused itself into the body, so no one was too surprised to discover that their appearance behaved similarly to Monsters. It worked on a smaller scale and compromised with the Human shape they always had. Many bore some mixed ensemble of tails, wings, claws, fangs, or wings, and things like feathers, scales, and fur were common place among them. Considering how their appearance matched those of Monsters, many were surprised that the same didn't go for their SOULs or their behavior. They became near feral, driven heavily by instincts and pack mentality, and often caved into bodily desires and driving forces rather than the nature of their SOULs. Because of this, they were often found on the sidelines of the rest of Humanity.

Sansy was brought back to reality as his captor stood up from the ground. Looking up at them in fear, he took in their appearance. Definitely Human, yet at the same time they clearly held animal-like traits. A long, reptilian tail trailed out from their back. The pupils in their eyes weren't round, but slitted like a cat's, and their ears appeared more fin-like than anything else.

A shiver passed through him when he saw the set of sharp fangs poking out from their lips.

Watching on in a stupor, he saw them shout something out, and he became vaguely aware of another presence slinking near. They seemed to be holding something in their arms. Was that a box? He wasn't sure, all he could focus on was the forked tongue that started to flicker in and out of the mouth above him.

As soon as the newcomer arrived, the box was slammed to the ground. Multitudes of screams and sobs erupted from the wooden container upon impact, only becoming louder as a clawed hand gripped the top and pulled it open.

Inside it were dozens upon dozens of other Bitties. He saw some squeak and cower in fear, and heard others shout profanities right before he was thrown in, making him bounce harshly off the side and land with a heavy thump on the ground before all outside light was cut off, enshrouding him in darkness.

His head pounded from the hit, but he still managed to sit up slightly and peer around the room. The only lights inside his new prison were the shaky eye-lights of the other Bitties; small pinpricks of whites and blues and reds that all began to blur together into a nauseating pool of sickly colors. He looked on through his daze, and felt a lurch as the box was picked up once more.

He didn't notice it when the shifting colors around him began to fade out, and soon enough, he had passed out.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

A slight lurch is what roused him from sleep. A few startled squeaks scratched the stale air when the box gave into a heavier motion, a sudden thump as the box was placed onto some solid surface and jolted the box with the force.

"I-IT'LL BE OKAY! WE J-J-JUST NEED TO STAY HOPEFUL!"

Groaning and head ringing in pain as the very loud voice pierced the air, Sansy shuffled up until he was sitting before letting his eye sockets crack open warily. Among all the small, huddled shapes, he saw a small blue blur race around. The sight made his post-passed out head spin, and he needed to take a moment to simply breathe before he could refocus on the Baby Blue that was pacing back and forth between Bitties.

The Baby Blue's eyes roved over to him, and immediately the slightly taller Bitty was hovered over him in concern, a hand coming up to land gently on the Sansy's shoulder.

"FRIEND, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? YOU DO NOT SEEM WELL..."

Urging himself to completely wake up, he looked up at the other and offered a fake, reassuring grin.

"yeah, i'm all good. uhh...where are we though?"

The Baby Blue seemed to hesitate, a bead of sweat forming on the dull white of his skull.

"ERM...THAT IS A WONDERFUL QUESTION, FRIEND! ONE THAT I, THE MAGNIFICENT MUSE...Is Not Able To Answer, I Am Afraid..."

"oh..."

The Sansy looked down at his lap, where his hands lay balled up into loose fists. Both Bitties jerked as loud, muffled voices began to pipe up. Voices from outside.

"B-BUT! THERE IS NO REASON TO BE SO, So..." He paused and fiddled nervously with his hands, before stopping and forcing them at his sides. "...I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL ALL BE FINE, SO LONG AS-"

"AS WHAT?!"

Both looked up to see a Papyrus type standing up. He was lathered head to toe in dark, black clothing. The only flash of color on his whole being were his bright red boots, and the cape that hung heavily from his pointy shoulders. "YOU DO REALIZE THAT THOSE THINGS THAT CAPTURED US WERE BEASTS, RIGHT?! YOU'RE AN IDIOT IS YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT A LITTLE HOPE WILL SAVE US FROM BEING EATEN!!!"

Immediately, a chorus of fearful voices rippled out, only growing more and more chaotic when everyone was informed of what was heard.

"Eaten?!" They spoke in hushed whispers, as though speaking any louder might make it irrefutable fact. "Beasts? But they seemed Human to me!" Another cried, refusing to believe such a horrid thing. "But Mama Cry would never let anyone eat us! She won't let them-"

"BUT THEY WILL!" The Bitty- a Boss- interrupted with a booming voice. "BITTIES GET EATEN ALL THE TIME! MAMA CRY LIED TO US!"

The hushed whispers evolved into an avalanche of wails and sobs.

"H-HEY!" Muse reared back, aghast. "STOP THAT! YOU'RE SCARING EVERYONE!"

The Sansy, long forgotten, watched on with rapt attention.

"I CAN SAY WHATEVER THE HELL I DAMN PLEASE, YOU STUPID PEASANT!"

Many of the younger, or more innocent audience, gasped at the Boss' disregard for censorship.

Muse turned a vibrant shape of violet, sucked in a large breath, and opened his mouth to argue right as a startlingly bright beam of light stabbed through the dark. Everyone's eyes were cast upwards as the top of the box was removed, and a hand reached in and plucked Muse up from where he stood.

"A-AH! L-L-LET GO! LET GO OF ME!!"

The Sansy leaped to his feet, and was soon swarmed by other Bitties all doing the same. Everyone rushed to the side opposite the clawed hand, bodies crushed together as everyone squirmed, trying fruitlessly to flee.

The full picture was revealed as the top was fully removed, and they saw that they were inside some sort of building. Beast Humans sat all around them, though there was no question that these were only the few that they could see. The one with their hand wrapped tightly around the Baby Blue grinned devilishly, and swapped a glance with their neighbor.

"Hmm, I just can't decide Linda! What should we do this time? One by one? Sawdust? Pysch Games?"

The female made a show of thinking, going so far as to tap their chin in thought.

"What does everyone think of Free Roam?"

"Ooo, the classic? Hmm, let's see."

They swept their glance around the room, and a smile slowly stretched on their face, revealing their own set of sharp, glimmering fangs.

"Majority wins! Free Roam it is!"

An eager cheer rose up from the hidden crowd, and every Bitty began to tremble as the strange Human brought their gaze back to the boxed creatures. They raised their fist up high to where they could all see, and Muse only struggled further after being brought closer to their fanged smirk.

"Let the games begin!" They sang, then opened their maw wide and bit clean through half of Muse's body, silencing his screams and letting his dust float down.

Screams erupted from everyone, and they all pushed and struggled to flee. Those who could teleport did, colorful flashes popping all around as Bitties left and right vanished, only to reappear over the edge of the box.

"Hehehehe, go on. Run." They said, not making any move to halt their progress. After watching them for a moment, they moved their free hand to the lip of the box and upended it's contents onto the rug.

Amidst all of the flying limbs and disoriented Bitties, Sansy was lucky enough to quickly right himself. He scrambled away from all the panicked skeletons and elementals, his chest heaving and tears welling up in his eyesockets. He peered up above him, and...

...So many, there were _so many..._

So many Beast Humans watching on in hunger and...arousal? Did they think this was- were they getting their kicks out of this?

The Bitties began to scatter, though some Beast Humans found the wait too long and lunged forward. There wasn't even a chance for the half-foot creatures. Sansy saw a set of teeth engulf a sobbing Cherry before gulping him whole. Their throat bugled out as the small skeleton was send down their gullet.

"o-oh stars!" Sansy felt himself shake before he flipped over and up heaved whatever magic was still in his system.

Slack jawed and gasping, the Sansy stumbled to his feet and looked around frantically.

A large shape soared at him. His magic sparked wildly as he forced a fast shortcut out of the way, and a loud noise boomed as the Human collided with the floor. He began to run as they let out a pained yelp, shoving in between Bitty after Bitty, diving for cover when a massive hand loomed above and snatched up Bitties that were mere inches away from where he stood.

A harsh pain radiated out from his back as he was sent flying through the air. Bouncing off the ratty rug, he wheezed when he felt the trickle of dust on his face, falling off and catching in his orifices.

Slightly disoriented, he clapped his hands on his knees and heaved himself to his feet. He looked around warily, and spotted a set of eyes piercing into him.

A spike of fear shot through his chest when he saw them drop into a crouch, their gleaming yellow eyes set dead on him. He didn't realize he was running until his skull was forced back around to watch where he stepped, and soon he began to feel heavy vibrations rumble out from the floor, only growing stronger with each rhythmic beat. He chanced a glance over his shoulder and swore when he saw their huge frame so close, _too close, so close he could feel the hot rancid breath they huffed out spanning over his bones and hear how their teethclickedtogetherasthoughtheywerepreparingforonebitethatwoulddusthiminstantelyand_ -

In his haze he ran straight into something and fell straight onto his back. Small black dots clouded his vision as he shakily pulled himself upright before his bones jolted in fear, forcing him up and whipping around to find where his predator had gone.

In the back of his mind, he noted that he had ran out of the main room and off into a secluded hallway. The lights were dimmer in here, barely leaving room for the shadows to show, but it was enough to see that the hunter was mere feet away from him. His eyelights blinked out, and he backed up until he ran into a wall. Cowering and quivering, he watched unblinkingly, waiting for his life to be snuffed out like a dying candle.

...

...?

But they just stood there, yellow eyes watching. Sansy dared not move as they remained motionless, and in the back of his mind he was somewhat aware that he should be dead where he stood, but he wasn't.

It was then that he noticed that those hungry eyes had turned more submissive and questioning, and coupled with that, were no longer completely focused on him, but something behind him.

And, oh, that wasn't his only revelation of the night (day? he wasn't sure).

He slowly became aware with a sense of horror that the 'wall' behind him had some give, and gave off a constant heat. Slowly raising a hand, he gave a tentative pat to it's surface and was met with a soft fabric ruffling his phalanges. He closed his eyes for a moment as a sense of dread washed over him, then slowly tilted his head back and looked up. 

Two brilliant eyes peered back down at him.

Trapped. He was trapped between two huge predators who wanted to eat him. A whimper surged up in his throat and he slid down to the ground in defeat. His chest heaved with quick gasps, teetering on the edge of hyperventilation as he kept his eyes locked onto the new Human he leaned against.

The original trudged slowly closer before a warning grunt from the newest- a Human with avian features- sent them walking begrudgingly away.

Sansy only spared a second to see them off before returning his gaze to the other Human, wary and awaiting for them to kill him.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"_ _ _ _ _! Come on! It's gonna start soon!"

You had just kicked off your shoes by the door, and your best friend was already impatient for you to hurry along. You smirked, a little amused by her child-like excitement. Humming to let her know that you wouldn't be long, you made sure to tuck in your wings before trotting over by her side.

The living room, or house for that matter, wasn't one that you were familiar with, but Delilah had insisted that you join her (for once. After all, normal people seemed to participate in something called 'socializing' that you apparently needed to do more often...). She kept it hidden from you, surprisingly managing to keep it a secret even during the walk there, but one look out into the mass of people had you piecing together what you had been invited to.

Through the large crowd huddled in the center, a large box sat and gave the occasional jolt of movement. Narrowing your eyes, you tried to make out exactly what creature(s) they had caught for the event. Most would take a whiff of the air and find out, but your sense of smell was almost none existent, so you were left with mere guess work.

"Oh, I can't wait for them to let us have fun with the Bitties, I- oh, drat!"

Oh, so the prey would be Bitties, huh? Interesting...

"H-Hey! Stop laughing, and forget you heard that!"

You only snickered harder at that, and her small pom-pom of a tail whacked you in the thigh.

"Okay okay, jokes over! I think they're gonna start soon."

Grabbing you by the cuff of your jacket, Delilah successfully managed to drag you closer, and despite not being too interested in the idea of trying to ingest living bones again (it was a little painful the one time if you were honest, though it was tasty...hmm...) you peered out at the box with the air of curiosity.

"Oh, oh! _ _ _ _ _, they're starting!"

You brought your attention to the person who had moved beside the box, and was currently lifting the top off. One of her hands snaked into the container. Various screams and sobs leaked out as she fished out one of the squat, blue ones.

"Oh, I love those ones!" Delilah purred, tail whirring as her golden eyes fixed on the squirming skeleton. "They're super fast and smart, and it always makes for a good chase! Uh, I think they're called, uh...Bl..Blue Babies, I think?"

You tilted your head to hide your quiet giggles, but Delilah, perceptive as ever, caught you in the act and gave you another whack.

"A-AH! L-L-LET GO! LET GO OF ME!!"

The small creature's plea rang out loudly, and you cringed at the suddenness of it.

_Or maybe you cringed because this is wr-_

Something tugged on your jacket, and a hiss of "Pay attention, they're choosing now!" brought you back to the present. All around the group, people raised their hands or shouted out in glee to choose something that you hadn't heard when you had dipped out mentally, so you watched with a bored gaze as they prepared to truly start. The hand keeping your own hostage slipped away as the canine-Human crept closer, eagerness dancing in her eyes.

Deciding to take the opportunity, you walked away and grabbed a soda from the kitchen before heading off down a random hallway. You cracked the can and took a sip as a pleasant heat breezed out from the side wall. Peering down, you saw that there was a radiator built into the wall and quickly decided that you'd be sitting next to it for the next indefinite amount of time, happily soaking up the warmth that it gave off while slowly sipping your drink.

You happily zoned out to the gentle hum of the radiator, enjoying your day off despite not wanting to participate in the hunt your friend brought you to. With a free soda and heat wafting out right next to you, warming you up pleasantly, you found no reason to complain.

A few minutes passed before your rest was interrupted by a heavy pounding at the end of the hall. You tried to block out the noise, but reluctantly looked up as it only got louder. Obviously, it was one of the hunters, and once they saw you in their path they skidded to a halt before they collided into you. They gave you a quick look before their gaze was drawn down to your leg with a predatory expression.

Oh, oh _hell no_. You were not the prey here and you were damn sure to make them know that. With your feathers bristling and your eyes sharpened into a glare, you shifted into a more commanding posture before stopping when something sharp dug into your leg. Your attentive eyes slid down until they rested on the sight of a terrified Sansy.

And he was pressed right up against you...

Huh.

You were staring at this point, but you didn't care. So many things were running through your head at that moment that you even forgot about the other Human until they took a step closer to you. Bristling again, you briefly met their eyes and gave raspy grunt. They shrunk under the aggression rolling off of you and decided that it wasn't worth it for one Bitty, and retreated.

They were immediately forgotten again when you looked back down and, for the first time, saw the bright white lights that hung in the small creature's eyesockets. Those light were brilliant, like two miniature stars, and were blown wide with panic. A shiver of delight ran up your spine at the expression, the more primal side of yourself recognizing the sight of prey with ease and deciding that it liked this, a lot.

You hardly had time to question yourself before you were leaning down. The Sansy yelped when he was sent falling after his support shifted, and froze when he found you so close, a mere inch away from him.

Now face to, well, body, you could clearly see each and every detail of the Sansy. He looked so similar to all the others, but underneath that there were many differences as well. The most striking were his eyes. They were white, which wasn't surprising, but now that you were so close, you could see the little flickers of color that swirled on the edges. A bluish-purple, a deep and rich color that appeared when day gave into night, circled the white and blended in perfectly. It almost hurt to drag your eyes away from the vibrant color, but when you did you saw the scuff marks on the back of his skull. The rest of his visible bones were mark-free and held a cream tint to them, all signs of a healthy bones. 

Your observations went beyond sight as well. One whiff told you that he smelled chalky and dry, and held a faint trace of something sour. When you brought your hand closer to poke at him, you noted that his voice was rather deep when he gave another shocked yell. Your finger prodded his oddly plump jacket, though it gave in and you were only more confused as to how he got his shape if he didn't actually have a stomach. Your pointer and thumb pinched the edge of his jacket and lifted it up. Ignoring the opposing shout and bony hands pushing at your fingers, you peered in and saw only bones. Well, that answered one thing, but how...?

Eh, you'd figure it out later. A new curiosity was rising up and demanded your attention.

Your lips and teeth parted, and your tongue shot out to run up the side of his arm.

"a-aah!"

The bones were smooth and slightly tangy, and curved as you went over his radius and ulna. The opposite hand was raised and trying to push you away, and intrigued, you leaned over and slurped it up, feeling all the incredibly small and delicate phalanges with the tip of your tongue.

"nnh..noo..."

Your mind blocked out the weak protests as you continue feeding your wonder. Flipping the small hand with your tongue, you shift it over to your teeth and apply the slightest of pressures. Then a tad more, and feeling the bones scrape your teeth, kept adding more, and more, and more-

"S-STOP!"

You freeze instantly. Your ears ring for a moment before you regain your senses and finally look back down and see, really see, the Sansy, and for just a moment feel guilt wash over you, though aren't too sure as to why you feel so guilty when your brief sight begins to dull again. Regardless, you let go of the bony arm and back off.

As you think about it, an unwanted memory threatens to surface, and a surge of fear makes you shiver. You shake it off as quickly as possible, not wanting to think too much about it.

When you return your focus back to the Sansy, your eyes shine with a new light. He, in turn, looked up at you with bright eyes, completely baffled and disbelieving. He's still laying there in shock, but slowly begins to pick himself up. Those white-purple eyes never stray from you, staying locked firmly on your form, assessing your every little movement and waiting for the moment where you'd pounce again. But, when some time passed and you make no move, he seemed at a loss of what to do next.

You can empathize with that.

This was quickly becoming...very awkward, but you kept your expression schooled into one of nonchalance.

Soon though, something else pulled your attention away. You look up to where the main room is, feeling that something is...off. Then, it clicked. It's too quiet, as cliche as that is. There's less screaming, less heavy pounding as people ran around hunting, less thrilled cheers as people encouraged their friends. You don't notice it, but Sansy followed your gaze and slowly seemed to come to the same conclusion as you.

The hunt was almost done.

Quick as a whip, you snatched him up and put him into your jacket pocket. A startled squeak followed, and he started to struggle against you as began zipping up the pocket, briefly thankful that your jacket had zip-up pockets, all the better to fly with.

You were stopped when he managed to wiggle his head out. Geez, this was harder than you thought.

As you were trying again to keep him from leaping out of your jacket, a flash of movement caught your eye at the end of the hall.

"Hey _ _ _ _ _! There you are!"

Oh good, it was just Delilah.

As soon as the relief swept over you, it was yanked away again as the puppy-like girl grabbed your jacket again (shitshitshit she was so close to your new pet now!) and began to drag you back into the main room. Where everyone else was.

"You've been away this whole time! Stop being such a recluse and at least hang around for a while 'til the end...please?"

You shifted your hand quickly to push the Bitty back in, but to your surprise found that he had already ducked down. A sigh escaped you, and you deftly finished the job and pulled the zipper shut right as you were dragged back out into the fray.

As Delilah brought you around and introduced you to some of her new pals, your thoughts strayed back to the painfully still weight in your pocket. Thinking about how you practically shoved him into your jacket without warning made your chest clench up oddly, but you shoved it off as you focused of other matters.  
You came to this party disinterested in the Bitties, and now you were set on keeping the one that ran into you. It was a spur of the moment decision, but there was no doubt in your mind that you definitely wanted this.

But what, exactly, did you plan on doing with him?

Would you keep him for company? (You remembered that they can talk.)

Would you eat him? (He did have a nice taste.)

Would you keep him for...other reasons?

Nope nope nope! You were **not** about to walk down that particular road! That much you knew.

Rather exasperated, you motioned to Delilah that you were ready to head out. She mercifully felt that you had done well enough, and opted to head out with you. Leading the way, you crossed the room over to the door. A small black blur zipped by the edge of the room, and you happily let it distract you as you reached the door and opened it. You closed your eyes for a moment as the cool autumn air rushed by the opened door, and, stepping out, allowed your mangled thoughts to fade away and only focused on getting home.

You'd sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This was the first part to a strung together story of one-shots that I'm making. Each will be connected to one another, and use the same characters in each one, and the contents from previous events will still be taken into account with each one-shot. I plan on accepting prompts and story ideas from the comments after the 2nd chapter if anyone is interested in doing so, but if not then I have a few ideas written down anyways that I can use, and the story will still continue either way.  
> I'm not sure how long I plan on making this (I guess you could say that I'm _winging ___it, to an extent), but if the time comes when I'm no longer interested in writing this, then I'll make sure to wrap it up so it doesn't drop off into oblivion XD  
>  I hope you guys enjoyed the ride so far, I know I have *evil cackle*  
> And if you spot any typos, or me slipping out of the past tense, feel free to point it out and I'll make sure to fix it.


	2. ...and into the fire.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader begins questioning the nature of Bitties while Sansy makes a break for it.

Something about early mornings made it exceptionally difficult to get up for the day. Maybe it was the comfy bed that already had hours of gathered warmth hidden under it's soft blankets. Or the way that your sleep addled mind begged you for just five more minutes. It could also be the depressing reality that sometimes, your dreams were a thousand times better than real life. Yes, even the bad ones.

None of those reasons were at fault for that today, though.

A blindingly bright screen was positioned right above your bleary face. Your claw-tipped finger tapped away as you scrolled past a wall of information, your brow furrowed as you read along the way. You paused as you found the first bit of info you were searching for.

You landed on a picture of a skeletal Bitty, one that looked strikingly similar to the one you brought home.

Seeing it, you stopped and thought back to last night. You had come home, and were soon faced with the predicament of not knowing where to place the little guy. After rummaging around your house for something to use, you had come across an old cardboard box, and lined it with an old shirt, and, after some wondering, placed a small dish of milk inside as well. To top it off, you punctured small holes into the top flaps, just in case he needed air. It made for a good temporary cage, but making it wasn't the problem. Getting the Sansy inside it was. You had taken him out from your jacket, and as soon as he saw the box he began to panic. You felt his small body thrash around, and before you knew it you had a fresh line of little teeth marks across your hand, and had dropped him in your shock. Luckily for you, he landed harmlessly in the box, and you quickly closed the top to keep him from escaping.

Almost immediately you began hearing him pound weakly on the box and shout out in protest. It was...weird, hearing him, or any Bitty, speak, and it only served to make them seem less like prey or pets, and more like...

You yelped as your phone slid from your grasp and landed neat on your face. Picking it back up with a grumble, you went back to reading more about Bitties.

**Sansy**

**Lazy-Always Hungry-Loves to Nap-Always Funny**

That...that was it? You were expecting something a bit, well, more, to put it lightly. Maybe this was just a small snippet, and a more informing article about your Bitty could be found elsewhere? Either way, you were a bit frustrated at being unable to find any straight answers to your more prominent questions.

You scrolled more hastily in your search. As you gave a swipe, you startled and yelled, dropping the phone again. Just what was that?! Were those two...? A fierce blush crawled on your face the more you thought of what you just saw, and you quickly decided that you'd save the research for later. 

Sighing, you swung your legs over the side of the bed and got up, shuffled over to your closet, and proceeded to get dressed. 

With the sun now far above the horizon, you finally emerged from your bedroom, with bedraggled hair and a tired expression. Taking a left down the hall, you shuffled from the living room to the kitchen and fixed yourself a plain bowl of cereal before seating yourself at on the couch.

Seeing as how you didn't need to work until later, you sunk as far into the plush couch as you could in preparations for relaxation, and flicked on the tv.

As you set it on one of your favored shows, you cast a glance to the box-cage set up in the corner. You blinked blearily at it, then sat up a bit further, squinting suspiciously.  
There was a hole blasted straight through the box.

A clatter left your bowl as you set it hastily on the coffee table and walked over to the box. A little apprehensively, you reached over and pulled the top open and peered in.  
It was empty.

...

Fuck.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

It was starting to get hot, and his struggles started to peter out against the enclosed fabric around him. He heard what sounded like a door shutting, and he bunched his hands into the jacket as he began to sway to and fro. The empty air underneath him was replaced with something solid, and even though it was muffled, he heard their footsteps fade away. 

Were- were they gone?! With a renewed sense of urgency the Sansy tried to rip apart the teeth of the zipper, but to no luck. The most he got was a sliver of potential freedom before the footsteps returned. A despaired wheeze left him.

Damn it! Why...why did he have to be so...  
So weak...

_You have no control over even your own life. Pathetic._

A whimper seeped through his teeth.

_But then again, Bitties were born to be so hopelessly dependent. Hehehe. It's no wonder why everyone sees you as nothing more than p r e y._

The thoughts were ripped from him as the jacket was tugged up again, and he yelped at the sudden lurch. The metal teeth started to come undone, and a large hand slipped past and took hold of him. He jerked and twisted away, but fatigue started to wear him down, making his movements sluggish. They shuffled over a bit, and brought him closer to-

"oh n-no, let me go! let me go let me go LET ME GO!"

The world seemed to slip away, all for the horrid wooden prison before him. It's black depths stared back up at him, and from it's maw erupted thousands of pained screams and sobs. It neared him, closer and closer and closer and he could see inside it clearly now, it was filled with dust, an ever-growing pile of white powdery dust that began to spill out from the top and the thing keeping him prisoner was bringing him closer and-

He bit down without thinking, and was sent tumbling down into the white.

He landed. Something soft broke his fall. Looking down, he was met with a dull white, and screeched as he back pedaled as far as he could go. His back met the wall, and he leapt to his feet and immediately began pounding on it.

"please, please let me out, i...!"

His hits grew weaker, yet he kept at it.

"you can't keep me here! please!"

He began to slow down.

"i can't, i c-can't..."

His eyesockets drooped, and, thoroughly exhausted, he slid down the wall of the box. His eyes slid down to the du- oh...it was just a shirt. A humorless huff left him.  
The Sansy wrapped his arms around himself, too tired to continue doing anything. The days events left him utterly drained, and, for the second time that day, he fell asleep in a box he desperately didn't want to be in.

~

It was silent when he woke back up. Blearily, he sat up slowly and rubbed at his eyes before glancing around. His breath hitched in his throat when he saw where he was, and almost jumped to his feet in a panic before he looked around more closely. He was alone. No other Bitties were with him; No screams or yells or cries either, and no sound came in from the outside. It was just him.

The next thing he noticed was the small dish of milk set off to the side. On cue, his stomach rumbled fiercely, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything since arriving in the alleyway. Which was about two days ago now.

He crawled forward until he was right before the milk, and all but plunged his head into it. An unwanted purr rumbled through him as he drank up the cool, creamy drink, and he quickly scolded himself. He shouldn't be happy, of all things, in this situation, but as a new found energy bloomed in him and drove away his lethargy, he couldn't seem to keep this slight joy at bay. He even gave a small smile as he leaned back and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, but as soon as he was finished he went straight back to business.

He needed to get out.

Standing up, he brought his hands out before him. He flexed his fingers, and was relieved when he felt his magic zip between his bones and joints. The familiar azure twisted around his hands in an almost proud demonstration.

The Bitty took in a steady breath, and began to focus his magic. An electrical warmth sparked to life in his left eye, and he lifted a hand up. Little spurts of deep blue and purple popped and crackled in the air surrounding him, and soon something large, white and skeletal had formed in the air above him.

The new creature was a cross between a dragon's skull and that of a goat's, yet it sounded almost dog-like when it let out a soft, questioning keen.

"hey there, pal. nice to see a friendly face for once." The Sansy chuckled dryly, and offered a few pats as the blaster came in for cuddles.

"alrightly there, bud, come on. we got work to do, okay?"

The blaster backed up a tad and gave a happy bark.

"shh! shh, pal, we gotta be quiet, alright? well, as quiet as we can be..."

The blaster pouted, but clacked their fangs shut resolutely.

"good boy! now..."

Raising his hand, the blaster immediately stood at attention, and as soon as the Bitty's hand dropped they parted their jaws and sent forth a pillar of blinding blue light. The magic beam ripped through the cardboard as easily as it did through air, and a new, perfectly round hole was cut through the box.

A quiet yip of triumph arose from the blaster. They turned to the skeleton, seeking praise and affection, but the Sansy was already at the new entrance and peering out. They whimpered softly and drifted closer, nudging the other with their nose. They received a distracted pat or two before being unsummoned, leaving the Sansy alone once more.

"sorry pal, maybe later."

And with that, he climbed out, making sure to mind the still hot edges as he lifted one leg, then the other before landing on the outside.

As he began to look for a way out, he paused to look around, more than a bit baffled to his whereabouts. The house he was in was a rather small, comfy one. He noted he was in the living room, and did it ever live up to it's name, because it sure did look lived in. That wasn't to say it was messy, but that everything in the room seemed to have it's place, and held the feeling of comfort and warmth. It was certainly unexpected, to say the least. It didn't look anything like the cold, dark place his mind had conjured up. To an extent, he wasn't even expecting them to live in an actual house, but seeing that they did, he felt a tad silly for thinking it.

But enough of that. There was no way to know how they'd respond to finding him outside the box, and with the hole punched through it, the option of submitting and hoping for the best was no longer an option.

Not like he was considering it though.

Crossing the room, he looked about and spotted a pair of windows near the front door.

Maybe he could open one? It was worth a shot.

Teleporting over, he stood besides one of the windows and used his body to unlatch the lock keeping it shut. His SOUL buzzed with magic when he summoned dozens of small, sturdy bones underneath the window frame. Grunting, he forced them to rise. The weight of the window made him falter a few times, but gradually, it shifted upwards enough for him to squeeze through the gap and out to the other side.

The night sky met him as he tumbled out, the barest streaks of morning light seeping out into the dreadful black veil. Now outside, his eyes strayed up to the stray beams of purple and blue struggling to overtake the black, and he gave a weak smile before shortcutting down to the ground.

As soon as his feet hit the dirt and grass, he bolted.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

57.

58.

59.

60.

Another minute passed as you sat outside your house, waiting. After discovering that your Sansy was missing, you debated on what to do next. It was a bit of a mental ride. Your mind told you that it was just some Bitty, that you could get another if you really wanted one for whatever reason, but your heart had panged dreadfully at those thoughts, yet for what reasons you had no idea. All you knew was that you didn't want any old, random Bitty, but that, for some unidentifiable reason, you wanted this Sansy in particular, and that that was that. So, after your internal mini-war, you had called up the one person you could really trust to help you out with anything, divulging everything that had happened up to that point, and were now waiting more or less patiently for them to show up.

"_ _ _ _ _! Heya, I'm here!"

Oh, speak of the devil.

Looking up from your perch, you easily spotted the excitable pup as she skipped happily over to where you were, a hand raised in a friendly wave.

You raised a hand in return, and got up to open your door. You began walking to where the box lay before nearly toppling over as Delilah barreled into you. A pair of arms wrapped around your torso and you tensed reflexively as she yanked you back and proceeded to squeeze the life out of you.

"Aw, no 'hello'? I'm hurt!"

When she gave an extra affectionate squeeze, you were very tempted to argue otherwise, but kept silent on the topic.

"...Hmm...'ello."

A deep sigh brushed past your ear as she dropped the hug. She trotted up in front of you and planted her hands on her hips, though the intimidating effect was lost when her fluffy tail began swishing back and forth. Angrily, you assume, but everything about it was too cute to think it as anything else.

"Hmph! And to think I agreed to help you today!" She gave her best puppy-dog pout, urging you on through the powers of disappointment.

You decided to ignore it and walked around her and over to the box. Kneeling besides it, you cast a glance over your shoulder, only to discover your friend still pouting and waiting.

She looked at you, and you offered up a raised brow, which she quickly returned.

Okay, you didn't have time for this. You took a deep breath, and...

"Hey, Deli...help?"

She gave an annoyed snort.

"Ew, Deli? Really? Noooo-"

"Delilah...come on, please?"

Your friend pondered it for a bit, then huffed and straightened.

"Okay, since you asked so nicely!"

_Finally._

A little bit of the anxiety that was beginning to built up slowly crept back as the canine-esk girl walked over and started to examine the box.

"I still can't believe you took one of the Bitties, I didn't even notice!"

She yipped as she picked up the shirt and gave it a curious sniff.

"I really didn't think you were too interested in it after you wondered off and everything and- man, it's tough getting it's scent when yours is all over it! Maybe change once in a while, yeah?" She teased. You leaned over and nudged her playfully, then looked purposefully back at the shirt.

"Yeah yeah, okay, bossy. Hmm, okay, think I got it! Geez, didn't realize these guys smelled so weird!"

The shirt was tossed as Delilah sprang to her feet, nearly sending you crashing for the second time that day. As she went around sniffing for the Sansy (hehe, how funny to watch.), you stood back and looked on patiently, even though your nerves were beginning to pick up again.

She stopped at one of the living room windows, and you finally noticed that it was cracked open.

"Must have gotten out from here! Let's go out and see how far it managed to get!"

She ran out before you could respond in any way, and you hurried to catch up. By the time you got outside she was already across the street and waving you over eagerly.

"Come on, slowpoke! We got a Bitty to catch, right?!"

Oh, good, she said catch, not hunt. Nodding an affirmative, you picked up the pace and soon caught up to her after crossing another street, and even followed her behind some of the neighboring houses.

Your feathers rose defensively, a little on edge after wandering onto someone else's property, though thankfully you either weren't noticed, or no one truly cared. You quickly hurried out from the backyard and followed Delilah over to the border to a patch of woods, where she seemed to be waiting for you to catch up.

"In here?" You asked, looking out into the trees. Delilah startled at the sound of your voice, and you smiled, just a little triumphantly. Well, maybe very triumphantly.

"Yup! ...Ah, you okay? You seem kinda worried?"

Huh? Worried? Your face seemed to betray your confusion, as she looked up and immediately said, "Or maybe not! It's not always easy to tell with your bird-face!"

Right after saying that she jumped away into the wildlife, leaving you sputtering indignantly and trotting unhappily after her.

Bird-face, really? So stupid...

You briefly reached a hand up to feel your face, then instantly stopped and felt silly.

As you jogged by, barely noticing the greens and browns rush by and the way the ferns parted as you passed through them, a soft hum made you look over to where Delilah was, and you went over to regroup. You nearly ran over her when you did. She was currently crouched down next to a seemingly random spot, and you mimicked her and peered over her shoulder to see what she was looking at.

For a moment, you weren't quite sure what you were looking at, but soon took note of how the dirt seemed scuffed up. A faint square shape was pressed down into the ground, with a mess of leaves and grass littered all around it. Shuffling closer, you were able to make out little crossed lines in the soil.

"Oh my god, so cute!"

Something was shoved under your nose, and you backed up quickly before glaring at Delilah. A wide smile adorned her face as she held something out to you, and your frustration died away as you took a closer look.

"Like, look at these tiny slippers! They're so tiny! I love it!"

And tiny they were. You swiped up the small white footwear, giving them another glance over before storing them in your pocket. You returned your attention to Delilah and indicated for her to continue.

"Oh, right! Well, I can't really seem to scent it out anymore..."

You frowned, and seeing this, Delilah waved her hands back and forth rapidly.

"No, wait! It isn't quite a dead-end either! Someone else was here, too!"

You cocked your head curiously. What did this newcomer have to do with anything?

"I think that someone came out here and took the cage, and maybe your Bitty along with it!"

Cage? You looked back to the odd marks in the dirt, and it suddenly clicked. Someone had set up a cage here, and rather cleverly too, considering the amounts of leaves by it. With the way it was placed and camouflaged, it makes sense that it may have even fooled more intelligent creatures.

And the implications of this were just now crossing your mind.

"Aughhh..." You groaned, and Delilah laughed.

"Yup! It's time to interact with people again, one way or another! Hahahaha!"

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

A door opened and closed, and the dark halls were bathed in artificial light. A set of footsteps tapped down on the wooden floors, and more light flooded a new room as the figure ventured deeper into the house.

Moving over to a tall table, he hefted up a metal cage and set it down, huffing slightly with the effort. The tall man began to turn away, but paused and looked down at the cage again, giving a small smirk at the surprising, but welcoming, contents.

"Heh, y'know, I wasn't expecting such a thing as yourself to be caught today, but, here you are."

A startled pair of white pinpricks peered out from within the bars.

"Y'know," The man started, now turned around and headed over to the couch. He leaned over to pick up his cellphone, and in doing so, showed off the dozens of striped spines rising from his back, and the spiked tail swishing out from his shirt.

"You guys sure are popular, yeah?"

The Sansy slowly crawled as far back as he could. The feeling of cold metal on his back forced a whimper from him.

" 'Specially with those, ah, fighting rinks, yeah? Pays real good money, I've heard."

He sat down right as another voice ran out from elsewhere in the home. It was feminine, and seemed almost forced with it's flirty pitch.

"Honeyboo, are you home~?"

From the entryway of the kitchen, a perky woman appeared. She bore no strange features herself, and seemed purely human.

"Sure am, sweetiepie!" He cooed back, casting her a look of adoration. Sansy looked back and forth between the two, more than a little confused to the sudden switch in behavior.

"Well, now that you're back, maybe we could...oh! What that on the table?"

He jumped in place and watched apprehensively as the lady approached, her hips giving a little sway as she passed by the other.

"Oh, it's one of those Bitties! I didn't know you got one!"

She brought her face uncomfortably close to the bars as the man behind her chuckled.

"Yeah, caught it today, in fact. Was thinking of pawning it off for some quick cash, then maybe me and you could have some more, ah, fun?"

Sitting there, trapped and listening to what they planned on doing with him, he couldn't suppress the trembling that gripped his bones. They were gonna sell him? To some rink?!

As he delved deeper into despair, the woman giggled lightly and crossed the room to playfully boop the man on the nose.

"Sure thing honeycakes~"

She sent a flirtatious wink as she swished on back to the kitchen.

A throaty hum arose from the Human on the couch before he brought his phone back up, beginning to punch in a few numbers while sparing a glance towards the kitchen.

"Hmm, yes, hello? I'd like to..."

His voice trailed off into the background as the Sansy looked around the room. It was the living room, that much was clear. The rather small space was clustered with furniture of all sizes, and a wide arrangement of odd trinkets that somehow all blended together smoothly.

The Bitty brought his attention back to the cage, wondering how he could try to escape this time.

At the front of the trap was a large metal sheet blocking off the entrance to the cage, and it seemed like it would take a bit of careful manipulation to get it to open, something that someone of his size couldn't hope to do.

But maybe the spaces between the bars were wide enough?

Just as he was going to check and see if it was even possible to fit past them, the man rose up from the couch and walked back to the cage, phone still in hand as he continued to talk to the recipient.

"Yeah, looks healthy to me, hehe, bet it'd make a great fighter, or at least interesting fodder. Isn't that right, little guy?"

The Sansy jerked away as the man poked a finger through the bars, taunting him all the while. The man shifted to get better reach, and scowled when the Bitty only moved further away.

"Hnn, come on just- uhh, yeah, sure it's magic is good, lemme just..."

He moved the phone away from his face to keep his growing growls from crossing over, and kept up his poking and prodding, all without success. He gave out a shrill hiss in his frustration.

"Grrrrahh, come on already you stupid fuck! Do something already!"

He removed his hand from the side of the cage, but immediately replaced it at the top of the cage. The Sansy stumbled to his feet and watched as the long fingers curled tightly around the metal bars, and felt his world shake as the cage was raised and bashed back down on the table.

Stars exploded all over as he was flung around, his head and body crashing into the top harshly before falling back down to the ground with a sharp cry.

"Ah, shit, fre- no, no, ahh, yeah, it's magic is just fine, ahh...oh, nothing, now how much were we talking about...?"

Pain zapped through his ankle as he lay, shocked and dazed and shaking with fear. A heavy, rattling breath passed through his ribcage, and he tried to twist around, only for his leg to seize up as fresh waves of agony rolled up his tibia.

He fell back against the cold metal, not daring to move anymore. Sniffs and whimpers trickled through his clenched teeth, and he gave a harsh sob when the man returned to toss a dirty towel above the cage and block out all sight.

"Unless you want more of that, you better shut up and hide that leg! I don't need 'em seeing it and cutting the price!"

The man muttered more as he paced away and resumed talking, leaving the Sansy to lay in the cage. He hardly stirred at the spoken threat.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed since then, but before he knew it, the doorbell rang, it's shrill sound echoing throughout the house and prompting the man off the couch to go answer.

The Sansy curled up and let everything fade into the background.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

By the time you two had tracked down the scent, the sky had given way from a spring blue to a dark blue dotted with purple wisps. It was getting late enough to kick start your nervousness. Your hearing was around average, but your ability to pick up smells was horrific. With your keen eyesight being your primary way of keeping alert, it was no wonder that you had grown weary and distrusting of the night. Hopefully, you'd be in and out of there before it got too dark.

"There it is." Delilah murmured, and you snapped out of your musings to look back over at the house you had arrived at.

Currently, you both were crouched out of sight, and further along sat a squat house. Delilah had earlier confirmed that the building was drenched in the smell of person she had been tracking, and now you were simply questioning what the next step was.

As much as you wanted to recover your Bitty (and maaaaybe see it he was alright), you weren't sure just how to approach this issue. For now, you were very tempted to sit and wait until something new happened, something that would open new possibilities and options-

But it seemed that your friend had completely different thoughts, as you quickly found that the spot next to you was soon minus one dog-girl, and that said dog-girl was already standing on the porch to the house.

You muttered curses and tried in vain to tell her to stop, but it was too late. She raised a hand and punched in the doorbell, and looked over her shoulder not a moment later to send you a cheeky grin.

"Delilah!" You hissed, quickly bounding to her side and trying to pull her back, but she stood firm in her ways.

"What?" She said, and you notice that for the first time that night that her usual smile has slipped away. "I don't know-no, I DO know what you'd do, which is exactly why I did this! Look, now's not the time to just wait until it's too late, you gotta take your stand!"

As she speaks, she firmly takes your arm and leads you over to the front of the door, where you begin to hear a pair of footsteps growing louder.

You glanced over at her, bewildered and unprepared, and she patted you on the back and took back her grin right as the door opened, and the form of a lanky man filled out the frame.

For a moment, all he does is stare with a surprised look on his face. Finally, right as things were getting awkward, he piped up.

"...Hey." He seemed weary, and his spiked tail swished into view a few times before settling. "Are you here, for, uhh..."

He paused to scratch his face and narrow his eyes at the both of you. You keep your expression under lock but Delilah wasn't so secretive.

"For what?" She yipped, her nose twitching. Her eyes shimmered briefly.

He looked at her, then at you, and seemed to bristle slightly.

"What're you here for?" He growled, crossing his arms and glaring at you. He shifted so that he stood straighter, feet placed apart and head held high.

He stared at you, and you froze, brain kicking into overdrive to try to find the most efficient, most painless option to take, and every empty second that passed seemed to drag by like an eternity. Damn it Delilah! Why did she drag you in like this?! How come she always just leaped into things like this?

Right as you were silently cursing her out, she stepped forward and took a similar stance to the man's.

"Look here, you took something of my friend's here," She paused to gesture to you, and your mind exploded with further curses.

"-and we want it back!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

He began to reach for the door as his face twisted into one of confusion and anger. From behind him, some lady's voice rang out in concern, and he spared a second to yell back something that seemed like it was supposed to be reassuring before turning back to deal with the two of you.

"Fuck! Just leave!" He growled and moved to slam the door. Seeing this, it was like your body shot into auto-pilot and raced in to wedge a foot inbetween the door and force it to stay open.

"Shit!" Pain hit you like a ton of bricks as the door was brought down mercilessly on your foot, and a fierce heat sprung up from the tender skin. Something was shouted out besides you, and suddenly a pair of hands gripped the door and wrenched it open. Your foot felt like it might have started bleeding, but you ignored it and shoved your way past, no longer patient to deal with any bullshit.

As soon as you made it inside, a fist swung out and slammed into your head. A yell, yours maybe, rung out and you were left clutching at the stinging bruise forming on the side of your face while looking into the face of an suddenly cocky man.

A steadily rising growl slithers past your parted lips as he moves to attack again, rushing up to bash you against the wall. You barely sidestep out of the way but still end up facing the sharp ends to the quills sprouting from his skin. A hiss slips out as red lines are sliced across your flesh.

"Aww, that all you got?" The man rumbled. With a sway to his step, he sauntered up to you, taking his sweet time now that he had a few winning blows under his belt.  
Well, that was his mistake. As soon as he was within range, you reared back a leg and drove it straight into his crotch. It was super effective. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, hardly able to utter a whimper, and with him now out of the way you began to seek out your Bitty.

There was a woman frozen to her spot when you entered the living room. Her eyes were blown wide as a deer's from where she watched you. A simple dismissive wave was all it took to get her scampering away, and she was quickly forgotten in your mission.

Sweeping your sights around the living room, it was evident that you had no clue how to begin searching. There wasn't even any guarantee that the Bitty would be in this room specifically, and if every room in the house looked as clustered as this one did than this was going to be a major pain to work with.

It was during times like these that you wish that you had Delilah's senses.

Well, you didn't have all night. You began to poke around through the junk lying around on the floors and shelves with the sounds of fighting in the backround. You quickly send Delilah a quiet 'good luck' and resumed searching.

It was as you neared the table that your ears picked up on some odd sounds. It was like something was shaking. A soft whine arose from the table, and your eyes widened in recognition.

The Sansy.

Quick as a striking snake, you reached out and yanked off the cloth covering- the cage! And there he was! A quivering bundle of bones laying off to the side of the cage, back pressed to the bars. With nimble fingers, you fumbled with the trap until the metal sheet rose up.

Tears slid down the little skeletons cheeks, and just the sight alone was enough to send you on an emotional guilt trip. Looking back on it, maybe you could've been nicer...

As gently as you could, you reached in and picked him up. Immediately he reeled away from your touch. A pained cry alerted you to the delicate state of one of his tibias, and somehow you held him more carefully than before, even going as far as to murmur soft reassurances. You weren't sure how in-the-moment he was, and if he understood what was happening, but he seemed to calm down a bit and let you hold him. You sighed, relieved that you had him back now, even if you were still unsure of what he was to you at that moment.

You had him back. That's all that mattered for now.

Turning around, you were happy to discover that Delilah had won the fight, despite having quite a few scraps and slices herself.

Locking eyes, you both silently agreed to get the heck home, asap.

After crossing a few streets, backyards, and one quick span of woods, you were standing once more in your home, plus one Bitty and battle-worn pup. By this point, the Sansy's eyes were open yet he still seemed a bit out of it. Which you were thankful for. You doubted he'd appreciate you getting so close to him, even if it was for the purpose of patching up his busted leg. It was a nasty crack too, snaking down the bone vertically. You weren't too sure of what to do in this case, but figuring that putting together a make-shift cast was okay, you set him down on some cloth lining your kitchen table and set out to look for some helpful supplies. A bit of searching later resulted in a pair of matches, and some actual medical wraps that would prove useful as you set to the task of fixing him up.

Being so close to the Sansy, you once again got to observe him. This time, you kept it strictly visual as you looked over all the small, delicate bones, especially the teeny tiny finger bones. You could hardly pick out the individual metacarpals, yet that somehow only served to make it all the more adorable.

Adorable? Since when have you started thinking that?

"Uhh..."

You whipped your head around and saw Delilah standing just outside the kitchen. She wore a goofy smile as she watched you hover over the skeleton.

"Ah, I think I'll head home now and, hah, let you do your thing there."

Her giggles made you blush, and you struggled to say something back. She laughed more at your failure to speak. Delilah began to make her way out, quickly telling you to make sure to fix yourself up as well before walking out the door.

You huffed out an exasperated breath and turned back to the tabletop. The Sansy was sleeping again, resting against the folded up cloth and letting out the occasional sleepy sound.

Leaning forward, you brought up a hand and rested your head against it. The house remained quiet as you simply sat there, absentmindingly watching the Bitty take even breaths and letting your eyes droop further and further. As you sank deeper into your exhaustion, a single question swam through your thoughts, and you gave question to it in a sleepy whisper just before everything slipped away.

"...Just what am I gonna do with you...?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter! Whew!  
> Hehe, I think the hardest thing to write in this chapter was the absurd amount of cheesy pet-names *shivers*  
> Anyways, now that this is written I'm now accepting prompts/ideas and such. Keep in mind that the reader and Sansy still have quite a ways to go, so any prompts requesting friendship levels of friendliness or something similar will be saved until later on. ^^  
> Also, I wasn't too sure on how well this chapter was paced, so if certain parts seemed too fast or too slow I'd love to know about it so that I could fix that for the next time. That, and any typos that you may see as well. :3


	3. Wondering and Wandering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have slowed down, and now it's only a matter of time before these two begin to warm up to each other.

The very next thing you noticed when you were coming to the next morning was the ache that spread out over your entire body. It was stiff and uncomfortable, and each second that you remained still sent a small throb of pain echoing through your joints and muscles. With a soft groan you stretched out all your limbs at once, then sighed as relief washed over you. Along with it came a new wave of drowsiness, and you were tempted to fall asleep again, right then and there, before your memory started to catch up.

Like a small trickle of water, you recalled bits and pieces of yesterday until you had the full picture again.

Just yesterday, you had woken up, discovered that the Bitty was missing, called up Delilah and went on a wild Bitty scavenger hunt, then had to go to some strangers house and ended up in a fist fight with him before finally recovering the small skeleton, who in turn had his own injuries that you had to care for after trekking back home. And then you fell asleep, hunched over, at the very wooden, very solid table. For the whole night.

All of that just made you want to fall straight into your bed even more and call it quits, but then you reluctantly opened your eyes in the morning sunlight, and spotted the Sansy you had left on the table. His eyes sockets were shut closed, and he was curled up on his good side while little snores rumbled out from his chest.

Oh, that was- you giggled sleepily- just too cute. In your tired state you neither tried to stop nor cared that you were smiling like a doofus. For the moment all you did was lay your head against the table and watch as the small thing made more funny sounds as he slept, and each time he did it you felt something warm flutter in your chest. It almost reminded you of the day that Delilah had introduced you to her pack, and within the same day they had become yours as well after toughing out everything on your own.

Your daydreams were cut short as your stomach fiercely reminded you of just how hungry you were. And just how hungry the Bitty would most likely be when he eventually woke up too. So, giving another quick stretch before getting up from the table, you decided that you would prepare breakfast for you both. There was still the problem of being uninformed about Bitties, and what they ate, but that's what the internet was for, right?

You started flicking through where you left off from yesterday, reading through articles detailing the different types of Bitties and the various requirements for each. After finding the section dedicated to Sansies, you read through their dietary needs before going over to the fridge and taking out some of the foods you had seen.

Ketchup was a must, or so you've read, and you also had near a dozen eggs that would go great with that condiment. You took them out after flicking the stove on, and once it was the pan was set, cracked the shells on the rim and let them drain out and hit the metal, where they started to sizzle loudly.

You weren't exactly a chef or anything, but you excelled in the art of breakfast foods, so hopefully the plate you were starting to make for the Sansy would be okay for him. 

Just as you finished the first batch of eggs and started sliding them onto a plate, a soft clacking sounded from the table, and a sleepy, confused groan quickly followed it. 

"wh...where...?"

Quickly, you finished loading the plate with the eggs before turning around. A smile snuck it's way onto your face when you saw the little guy sit up groggily and rub the sleep from his eyes. The dishcloth that was wrapped around him slipped from his shoulders and pooled up on the table around him. He gave a lazy yawn before looking around with blurry eyelights.

Then he looked over and saw you. As soon as his eyes landed on you the lights blinked out, and you were frozen to your spot, not sure how to react. A strangled whimper rose in his throat and he started shuffling away from you, and closer to the table's edge.

"H-Hey, wait," You rasped uneasily, and it only made him more frightened when you took a step towards him and he scrambled further away. "No, stop!"

He finally hit the edge, and the way his eyes widened would have been comical had it been someone full-sized and teetering on the edge of a couch. But this wasn't that. He was very small, and that table was a good few feet above the hardwood floor.

You cursed and moved to dive in and catch him, but as he fell he was suddenly engulfed in blue before he _vanished_ , leaving nothing but a brief flash behind. You jerked back in surprise and waved your arms wildly around when you nearly slipped.

After you were able to stand straight again, you look around in complete bafflement. Where did he go? And _how_?! He just- poof! Gone.

A subtle tip-tapping sounded from the living room, and you whipped around to the noise before skidding over and looking in with wide eyes. There! Half-way across the floor and still going, the Sansy made a mad dash for the hallway and dove under a bookcase.

You sputtered and quickly walked over and peered under, only to be greeted by a bone shooting out at you. You flew back with a gasp, and ended up sitting there, watching the small shadowy space under the bookcase with a weary eye.

Fortunately, nothing else happened. Unfortunately, the Bitty seemed set on staying under there for however long and you weren't sure whether it would be for the best to just let him stay, or to try to get him out.

...Maybe it was for the best. After all, he's had a crazy couple of days, and that was a severe understatement. Anyone would need some room to recover, and out of everyone, you certainly weren't gonna be the one he would run to for comfort.

So instead, you left him be to retreat back into the kitchen. Within moments you returned with a small plate of scrambled eggs drowned in ketchup, and set it down besides his hiding spot, then sat down.

"Uhh, so..." You started speaking in the hopes of letting him know that you wouldn't hurt him, but where to begin? You really weren't too good at this. "I, err, made some food...for you, I mean, if you want it, it'll be right here." You tapped the dish with a claw.

You fumbled with what to say next, and eventually began to stand back up. You stood there for a second, feeling the need to end it off with...something.

"You're, eh, you'll be safe here, okay? Yeah..."

It was cringe worthy at best and you were sure that he didn't believe it for shit, but it needed to be said. You gave the small hiding space one last glance before getting ready to head out to make up for the work you skipped out of yesterday.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Minutes passed slowly before he heard the door close, and the house was now silent. There was a faint darkness all around him, only interrupted by the stray beams of light sneaking past the small gap under the bookcase. A shiver tip-toed up his back. As much as he hated the dark, he didn't dare trek out where that Human would be able to catch him again. Yes, he had heard every word they had spoken, but it didn't mean anything to him. Sooner or later they'd strike, he was sure of it.

Sometime during these thoughts, he had moved to the farthest wall and curled up sadly with tears streaking down his face. He was just so scared, and lost and unable to do anything about it, and now he was back where he had started before he had run off.

And he'd never be able to see his Human again, the friendly face that he woke up to every morning and swapped puns with, the one that slipped bits of food off his plate to him even as his mother chastised him for it, the face that never looked down at him with a look of primal hunger. When had everything gone to hell like this?

A choked laugh broke free from his throat in between his sobs. Oh, he knew when it had started to hit the fan. It all started when _she_ showed up, and started to steal his Human away from him, little by little. Oh, but it wasn't enough for her, now was it? No, she grew jealous, jealous of everyone who took up any of his Human's time, and that included him. And then she- and then-!

His whirlwind of thoughts died off as his chest heaved with loss. He gave out a few sputtered breaths before curling in tighter against himself and letting the time sluggishly tick away.

~

It was late. His eyesockets opened up slowly, and after a moment he laid there and listened. A soft rustle, a few random creaks, but nothing else. They probably weren't home just yet.

Pushing himself up, he made his way over to the little half-oval opening and peeked out. None of the lights were on and the plate of now-cold breakfast still sat there. The sight of all the ketchup pilled on top made his stomach roar, and without a second thought be plopped down besides up and shoveled the food into his mouth by the handful.  
"oh stars," He mumbled. "mmmmm!"

Even cold, it was delightful! He ate faster until the plate was entirely clean, not a lick of ketchup remaining. A content sigh left him as he leaned back on his hands and stretched out his legs, and for now his melancholic feelings were replaced by something fuzzier.

Weird. Was it just him or did he actually feel something fuzzy right then? Something tickled one of his feet and he sat up to see a stray feather laying by his foot. 

His eyes enlarged in shock, and he nearly kicked it away before his foot brushed by it again, and this time the silky softness was as clear as daylight, and despite his aversion of you, he reached out and plucked it off the ground.

It was large, around three inches long and he was just a tad taller than it. Holding it in his hand, he could easily see each and every individual hair that made up the whole feather, and he gently ran his phalanges through it. It was so soft and delicate, and it left him in awe as he repeated the motions, over and over, letting the soothing motions drive his demons to the furthest corners of his mind.

The lock to the door clicked and turned, and the Sansy startled and scrambled back under his hideaway with the feather clutched in both hands.

~

The next two days pass before he takes the chance to explore around the house while they're gone.

He heard the door click again, and patiently waits until he's sure they're gone before slowly walking out from under the bookcase. A fresh plate of breakfast awaits him, like usual, but the appearance of a post-it note hadn't started to occur until after his second night there.

The first note he had now lay in his hiding spot. It read-

**Were the eggs okay? I hope so. Feel free to look around and make yourself comfortable.**

It was simple and to the point, and when he read it he found himself quietly answering that, yeah, those eggs were great. Though he didn't say that to you, of course, but that didn't stop his disappointment when he found no eggs the next morning, but instead a plate of buttered toast. At least there was some ketchup on the side though.  
The next note was similar to the first; very simple and friendly out of politeness.

**Good morning. I'll be out of the house for a while, but I'll be back later if you need anything.**

Right next to it was a plate of small pancakes dazzled in golden-brown syrup. As usual, it was delicious, and to his surprise a sweet, tangy flavor was buried within the fluffy goodness. When he checked, he found little bits of strawberry hidden inside, and for some reason this made him smile for more than just the flavor.

It was only after he was done that he began to consider the first note's message. 'Feel free to look around'. He had to admit, he was very curious as to what he'd find if he looked around their place. Surely there'd be something of interest?

He swept his gaze around the house and felt his nerves spark up again. Maybe he should start off small, with...oh. Heh, the bookcase! It did have stuff on it's shelves after all, it could be a good place to start looking around. With a flash of magic, he now stood on the bottom most shelf among a few boxes.

He gave one look and shivered. They were cardboard boxes. He was starting to regret coming up here, but, he was too curious to leave just yet. Just a look, then he'd leave.

Walking closer to one, he saw that there was a large white sticker with writing on it. A name, an address, a date too? Weird. He passed by more of them, and they all had the same writing on them, though varying between what was addressed to whom and where they seemingly needed to go to. He looked closer and noticed that a few in particular had specific 'packs' they were listed for, too.

Well, these were clearly packages meant for others, so why did you have them? Could it be that you were delivering these to other Humans? It seemed the most likely explanation for it, but it just seemed so tame.

He investigated some more, but the rest was the same. More boxes, more addresses, yada yada, and teleported back down to the ground.

Not feeling up to more 'adventuring', he called it a day and hung out around the bookcase until you came back home. He snuck back under the space and waited for the plate of lunch you always made for him when after you returned.

~

The next day, he had awoken to another post-it note left by for him on the side of the bookcase.

**Good morning. If you are up to it, I'd like to check your leg and make sure it's doing okay. I'll give you some time to think about it. I'll be home later if you come to a decision.**

He reread it half a dozen times before wondering; why did you care? In fact, why did you keep feeding him? Why didn't you do anything else, like chase him out from under the bookcase? Did you actually want him as a pet? He didn't know how to think about that. All these questions were beginning to weigh on his mind, and with a sigh he took the note and tossed it onto the small pile inside his space.

When that was said and done, he walked back out and began treading through the house with his fingers crossed that he would be able to discover more about you through the things he would find around it.

The most obvious place where he could do this would be your bedroom, but...for some reason, the thought of going in there right now made him feel on edge. Like he would be trespassing. And who knows if you would be okay with it.

So instead, he heads off into the kitchen, being already somewhat familiar with it since that first day, and pokes around here and there. It looks standard enough, with a small table, fridge, oven, counters; all the works. He 'ports to the counter top and immediately notices a large coffee maker set up in the middle of it. The buttons on it seem worn out, and the pot itself still has around a quarter of coffee filling it. Besides it stands a ceramic cup that smells like it recently held some of the freshly brewed beverage, but a quick peek shows that it's completely empty.

He smirks when he wonders if it was your only cup that morning before turning around to the rest of the kitchen.

Next was the fridge, and at first it seemed plain and boring until he noticed some of the pictures hung up with cute, little magnets. It caught his attention and he quickly switched counters to get a clearer look.

All of them featured the Human and another, more dog-like one, and a few others had showed other people as well. The closest one that he could see had the bird one alongside the dog one, both smiling as they peered into the camera that the canine-esk person seemed to be holding up herself. It was held up by a small cartoon bee magnet.

While he hasn't been around them for long, he didn't get the feel that they were the type of person to seem so- happy? No, _normal_. In the photo, they were smiling wide with bright, genuine eyes, and if it weren't for their wings and the feathers of their tail, he probably would've taken them for any other everyday person. He dwelled on it briefly before glancing at a different image.

The second picture featured just them, surprisingly. They seemed a bit miffed, though a glint of pride shone in their eyes as they stood straight for whoever was holding taking their picture. Around their neck dangled a dark brown collar fitted with a tag shaped like a red diamond, and oddly enough it seemed familiar to him the longer he stared at it.

"huh..."

The next one was more along his expectations. It showed them and the dog-person again, but in this one both were scratched up and dirtied and spotted with blood. Again, it seemed like the female was taking the pic as she wore a relieved grin. The Human that he housed with seemed bit more worn-down and tired, though still managed a tiny upturn of their mouth and was glancing at the other curiously.

"That was the day I met her, you know."

He shot away like a bullet and nearly toppled over the side of the counter in his panic. Fear laced his system as he looked up at them, suddenly standing there and looking down at him in amusement. When did they come in?!

They turned back to the photo while he lay there frozen. His eyes were locked on them, so he didn't miss it when their face relaxed into a nostalgic look.

When he stayed silent, they continued without moving their gaze from the picture.

"We kinda ran into each other one day, when these pricks were bothering us."

You're hand reached out and he flinched, but when nothing came, he looked up to see your fingers brush by the edge of the photo. You briefly nudged the little rainbow magnet hanging it up and gave a small smile, murmured something about how silly Delilah was, then went back to reminiscing.

"We teamed up and fought them off for the time, and even though she didn't know me, she immediately declared our friendship afterwards, heheh. And then..."

They paused, and the Sansy found himself leaning forward in wait.

"and...?" He surprised himself by even asking the question, and they seemed shocked too, as they peered down at him for a second with a wide eyes. They recovered and went back to looking at the image.

"And then she brought me to her pack. And now it's mine too, and since then neither of us had to deal with those bastards, not if they didn't want to cause a pack-fight anyways."

"oh." He murmured, feeling just a tad more at ease. "...a pack?"

"Hmm? Oh, well," They straightened up and turned away from the image, but instead of facing him they went to turn on the oven-top. As they walked he finally saw the collar around their neck. It perfectly matched the one he saw in the picture on the fridge.

"A pack is just a group of people that all work together." They explained simply, yet when the Bitty gave them an imploring look, they went on. "It's like, how wolves are. We even have some of the same words for it too. Like, we have an Alpha, who leads the group, then the Beta, who's just under the Alpha, and the Omegas, who are at the bottom."

He thought this over for a moment. "are you the alpha?"

They startled him when they sputtered, then bent over laughing.

"Phhtttehehahahah! O-Oh, that's a first! No, I'm just another subordinate, right in the middle of them all. Hehehe, phew. No, Judy's our Alpha, not that you'll ever meet her."

He hummed and observed them place a pot onto the oven, then take out a box of mac-and-cheese. The silence reigned over the next few minutes, and he thought on what had just happened. Admittedly, he almost forgot that they weren't merely Human; not like the ones he used to live with. Almost forgot that the reason he was here in the first place was because they stuffed him in their pocket and brought him here. Nearly overlooked the fact that they easily could've killed him when he first ran into them.

"Oh, did you think about letting me see your leg?"

Their voice broke the silence, and he looked up with a start, beads of sweat dotting his skull.

"yeah,"

They paused to watch him. "And?"

" **no**."

He stood up quickly and 'ported to the ground. His smile was strained, nervous, as he stiffly walked out of the kitchen and back under the bookcase he had claimed as his. Curling up, he questioned why he didn't leave as soon as he noticed that they were there, and then wondered why he didn't ask anymore questions since he had the perfect opportunity to do so, especially since they were actually talking to him now. And when had that started happening anyways? He didn't remember hearing you say anything before, and had begun to think that you couldn't only to find that you very much could. And your voice! Honestly, he didn't know what he was expecting, but your voice was a shock to him. Even more so was your laugh. Who knew you could laugh so loudly? He certainly didn't. And for some reason, he didn't mind it all that much, they way you sounded when you laughed like that. It felt real, much more real than the subdued, quiet voice you used when you spoke. It was so hard to decipher your emotions when you spoke, yet when you broke out laughing it was clear as day that you found what he had said to be funny. No tricks, no games, it just was.

A soft clack sounded from outside the opening, and he twisted around to see that they set their smallest bowl of mac-and-cheese down for him (though it was still very large to him). For the moment he ignored it as he delved back into his thoughts.

How was he supposed to feel about you?

~

He woke up the next morning more relaxed than he had been when he had fallen asleep. Already he felt the itch to get out from his hiding spot, which has started to feel a bit restrictive, to look around more while you're away. So he settled down and waited. And waited. Slowly he grew confused, and peeked outside and saw you relaxing on the couch in the living room, seeming rather fixed to that spot.

Very quickly did it become apparent that you're in no rush to go anywhere, and he found himself in a bind. Now what?

Before he can answer, he saw them glance at the bookcase and make eye contact with him. He startled and they seem equally surprised, but after a moment turned back to the t.v. with a forced casualness. The Bitty stood for a moment longer before his shock wore off.

Well...they didn't seem like they were going to prevent him leaving, so...

He looked around before deciding to simply wander around until he found something that peeked his interest. He took a look into the bathroom but quickly went back out when he found nothing too noteworthy besides some decorative looking soap and air-fresheners.

Leaving that room, he found himself standing in front of their bedroom, and inquisitively peeked in for a look before immediately drawing back out to look over at you. You weren't watching him at the moment, but that didn't mean that you wouldn't later. But did it really matter? You hadn't told him it was off limits after all.

With one last glance, he took the plunge and walked inside.

An immediate sense of tranquility washed over him, so much so that he doesn't even start at the sudden change in atmosphere. The room wasn't too bright or too dark, but hung in the balance between both. It was almost like the sky was when it shimmered with the last rays of light before complete darkness took over. Like dusk. Beyond the dim was a flicker of light, and he spotted a lit candle sitting quietly on their bedside table. Captivated, he walked further in and 'ported onto their bed. The plush blankets sunk slowly under his feet, and fully tempted, he wiggled his toes into the soft, comfortable fabric. It reminded him of the feather he still kept under the bookcase. Forgetting about the rest of the room, he sunk down and splayed himself out over it all and let out a blissful sigh as the blankets folded perfectly around his form.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but suddenly you were peering in and giving him that same amused look from yesterday. He found that he didn't care as much then as he did yesterday that you were there.

"Comfortable?" You asked as a smirk teased the edges of your lips.

"hmmmmmhmm." He wiggled further into into the bed before going lax again, watching as you entered and reached over to pick up a coiled phone charger before making your way back out. He tried not to twitch when you came a bit too close for his liking.

The bed called out to him, but now he was more awake and climbed back down to tread back over to the edge of the doorway. He leaned out and saw you go into the kitchen. As you went, his gaze switched over to the living room at the end of the hall, and soon enough he was walking in and peering around the space with an appraising eye.

It looked the same as it did when he had first broken out of the box,- his head whipped around to where he remembered that prison was but it wasn't there, to his immense relief- but for some reason it seemed almost bigger. More open and inviting than before.

He moved around as he looked, and as they came back in and settled back down on the couch he stopped before a library of dvd cases, and his eyes were quickly drawn to-

"you have disney movies?" He asked incredulously, one brow raised as he turned his head to look back at them.

They shifted and mirrored his expression right back at him. "Yes?"

He huffs a laugh and goes back to browsing the movie selection, drifting past titles like 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Lilo and Stitch' and pausing here and there to pull them out and read the passages on the back.

"You want to, uhh...watch something?"

He sputtered and looked back with wide eyes. "huh?"

They chuckled and moved off the couch to crouch near him and peer at the movie options, ignoring the way the Bitty flinched slightly, but they were simultaniously glad that he made no further move to get away.

"Hmm..." They reached out and took out a case. "How about this one?"

The Sansy leaned in to see what you chose. "brother bear?"

"Yeah."

He rocked back on his heels in thought, then looked up at you with a cheeky grin.

"sounds bear-y good to me, okay."

Wait for it, _wait for it_...And there it is! A snicker rose from him when he saw your eyes light up and turn to him, and the corners of your mouth twitched up before you laughed. A snort slipped by and they slap a hand over their mouth to hide it even as they kept laughing.

"O-Okay then." You giggle, actually _giggle_ and it sounds so strange to him, and take the dvd and plop it into the player. Both of you settle down, with you on the couch and him on the smaller loveseat as the movie starts up and plays out over the screen.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Over the course of the movie you grow more and more relaxed, and a quick look over at your...companion? Housemate? -at the Bitty shows that he's slowly feeling more at home now too, if the way that he seemed to be trying to fuse with the couch was anything to go by. You subconsciously tug at your collar while feeling a warm, fuzzy feeling blooming in your heart. It took a while for you to really notice but it's eerily similar to the warmth you feel whenever you hang out around Delilah, yet at the same time it isn't. With Delilah came a friendship brought forth by a common enemy that, when you both teamed up with each other, were able to overcome and have since then been the best of friends.

Yet with the Sansy, your odd relationship with him was made because you were his enemy, at least at first. Once more you glanced over at him, and not for the first time you wondered if he hated you. If he did, well, you couldn't blame him. He had every right to hate you after that night but you still wanted to chase those reasons away. The little bundle of bones was admittedly growing on you, even after such a short time, and you wanted him by your side like how you had Delilah by your side. You wanted him in your **pack**.

...But that would never happen, and you knew it. Your Alpha was a...spunky one, there was no way she could ever allow it, and even if she did there were still the others to worry about. Still, you wanted him to stay, even if your start had been rocky, and still was, you wanted this.

You wanted this.

Sooner than you realized, the credits were rolling and the scenery outside the windows had shifted over into a darkened night. A yawn slipped past your teeth and you gave a short stretch before rising to your feet. Shuffling over to the t.v., you turned it and the player off and turned around. Your bed called for you, but louder than that were the little snores and snorts rising from the loveseat. With a glance down, you spotted the Sansy, who had fallen asleep while sitting against the back of the seat.

With a tired smile, you went away, only to come back with a soft blanket gripped in your hands. You folded it up until it was no more than a thick, plush rectangle, and placed it down onto the couch. With gentle hands you scooped up the snoring Sansy and carefully laid him out over the make-shift bed before pulling another blanket up and over him.

Looking at him, it was clear just how stressed he was during the day. Even though he hid it behind smiles and grins, seeing how relaxed his face was while sleeping compared to the strain of his expressions when he was awake spoke volumes. You sighed at the realization, and moved forward to softly stroke his skull with your fingertip. He gave a sleepy murmur and you moved away before you woke him up.

Giving one last look back at your little companion, you went off down the hall and got ready for bed yourself, all the while wondering how all this was going to work out in the end, and hoping that it would all turn out okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phhht, what even is pacing?! *flips a table*  
> Yay, 3rd ch. is finally out now! Now I can go off and read other people fanfics hehehe ;u;  
> And you guys probably know the drill by now; if you see any typos please feel free to point them out in the comments, and any prompts or ideas that you have for this fic. They can be anything and don't need to be limited to just the Reader and the Sansy btw


	4. Fluff 'n Stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few days pass, and it was only inevitable that some fluffy things would happen along the way to make our reader's days more tolerable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, first off I gotta say that the reason this Ch. is late is because I've been on vacation with my family for 2 weeks and was too busy to write, and I just got back a bit ago, so sorry! I can't say that these chapters will always come out quickly but I'll try not to let them fall behind like this, hehe ^^'  
> Anyways *grins happily* I got my first prompts, and here's what they are-  
> herhiddensecret "Ooooohhh!!!! So cute, I really do love little sansy and reader. I'd love to see him reacting a bit more to reader's more animalistic features, the wings and talons and all that fun stuff <3 keep up the good work I'm really loving this fic!!"  
> and  
> letsallbecalmchaps "Fair enough just thought it was strange that he was so mesmerized by a feather. I guess as a prompt or request how about sandy collecting any stray feathers that fall and/or subconsciously petting our bird mage pal"  
> *cracks knuckles in false confidence* I hope you guys like how it turned out! Cause I had fun writing it ;v;

The next few days passed calmly ever since the movie night, and the Sansy and Human often found themselves much more at ease with each other, enough so that they both could wander in the same room together without so much as a second thought.

In fact, sometimes the Sansy would purposefully set out to find the Human when they were home. It had recently become apparent to him that the chances of them attacking him were becoming slimmer and slimmer with each passing day, and taking the opportunity, he would sit and watch them, if only to sate his curiosity. After a while he wished he had somewhere to record his findings, because he ended up learning a lot more than he had thought he would.

For instance, one of the more important discoveries of his turned out to be very helpful to his sense of safety. He hadn't noticed it at first, but quickly started to realize that, whenever he walked about on the floor, their gaze would usually be drawn to him. And it wasn't in anyway their usual look. When this happened he would see how they would perk up; how their eyes would widen just the smallest amount and the way that their wings would move slightly outwards. And the faster he walked, the more pronounced these motions became. It took him a while to figure it out, but whenever he walked on higher surfaces these motions would cease, and they would lose that predatory glimmer in their eyes. Ever since then he has made sure to stay higher up whenever he was in the same room as they were.

A more lighter finding that he was very pleased with was that they were much more responsive to his puns that at first. Ever since he had awoken on the couch, he had started doing what he did best. Puns. Puns everywhere and about anything. At first they had simply given him a mildly amused glance and shook their head, as though they couldn't believe that he could be so silly, but after some prompting from him they would pitch in with their own. The most shocking thing about this however was that they very much did have a sense of humor, it was just...different than his own. The thing about his jokes were that they were always, well, _clean_ , and theirs...not so much.

All of that lead up to the current day, where he would once again learn something new about them, but in turn they too would learn something new about him.

It was early morning, and he sat down at the kitchen table and watched as you shuffled into the kitchen tiredly and began to prep the coffee maker.

"Goodmorning." You yawned. "So uh," You hesitated, then said "Sansy, what do you want for breakfast?" For some reason it felt awkward, had you even called him 'Sansy' since he came here?

He glanced up and gave you a look. 

"...What?"

"oh, nothing," He snorted. "eggs and ketchup would be great, bird-person."

You had just taken a sip from your mug when his response made you sputter, and with furrowed brows you turned and fixed your gaze on him.

"Excuse me? I have a name, you know." You huffed as you took out the carton of eggs and started making breakfast.

"yeah?" He asked sarcastically. "well, so do i."

This made you freeze.

He...he had a name? This whole time?! ...and it wasn't Sansy?

Something akin to a squawk came from your mouth. "E-Excuse me?!"

From where he was perched on the table, he brushed off his jacket while a smug grin grew on his face. You waited for him to go on, to shed light on your very obvious unspoken question, yet he stayed silent and continued to feed on your bewilderment.

After you, well, just stood there and gathered up all the little pieces of your composure and stuck them back together, you licked your dry lips and finally spoke up.

"...Well?"

His eternal smirk somehow grew even wider, and slowly he turned his head towards you and neatly folded his hands in his lap.

"well...what?"

Oh that cheeky little fuck, he knew _exactly_ what you wanted.

"Hmpphhh." You huffed under your breath and wondered if you would even ask after that. After all, he was messing with you, why play into his hands? Yet, you really wanted to know now...

With a resigned sigh, you asked, "Well, what's your name then?" and crossed your arms and waited.

He hummed and leaned forward with a smile, and you immediately stood at attention. You found yourself leaning towards him too right as he opened his mouth and- closed it again as he gestured you over with a two lazy finger-flicks.

"Oh come on!" You nearly growled, but after a moment of him just smirking at you, you walked over anyways and bent down at his level, quirked a brow and silently told him to get to the point.

"hehe, okay." He started and waved his hands placidly. "it's..."

You moved closer, ears strained.

"jack. jack the skeleton."

"Jack?" You repeated quietly, and nearly missed it when he stuck out one of his hands for you to shake. Without another word you offered up a finger and proceeded to 'shake' his hand.

"yyyep." He chuckled. "like from the movie, nightmare before christmas. the kid always loved it, so when he got me that's the name he chose."

"Kid?" You murmured, and the Sansy snapped his head up and looked at you like he forgot you were there.

"uh, yeah, he was- **is** my human." His eyes darkened and he looked you over, almost challenging you to say otherwise. Yet all you could think about was that he had someplace else as a home before yours. Someone else too. You hadn't questioned it too much, but it made sense. Of course he had to have come from somewhere before you two had met. When you came back from your thoughts, you glanced back at him, questions on the tip of your tongue as you moved to ask them.

But he beat you to it. "uh, do you smell something burning?"

Your eyes went wide and you twisted around and hurried over to the stove.

"Shit." You swore, and Jack murmured "did you just swear?" as you rushed to save the food. Left huffing, you shakily dished out the mildly burnt breakfast and quickly ate yours so that you could hurry off to work.

"Look, I got to go, but I'll leave the t.v. on and the remote on the couch, and there's probably some other things around the house for you to use while I'm out." You went over and hoisted your delivery pack over your shoulders and made sure they didn't hinder your wings. With your pack secured, shoes on, and necessities on hand you opened the front door and quickly said your goodbye and left with a brief wave.

Jack muttered a quick farewell as he watched you head out. He sat there, idly eating the rest of his eggs and let his eyes wander around the kitchen to busy his now-troubled mind. Down on the tiled floor idled a few loose feathers. His mind wandered back to the feather that still lay under the bookcase, and teleporting down to the ground he walked over and picked up the nearest one. It was long, at least two inches taller than himself. The next one was a whole new beast, he wasn't even sure how to go about picking it up. It had to be at least seven times his length, maybe more, and if he looked closely enough he could make out a faint pattern etched into the color. He traced it over with a phalange before he waved his hand and carried it along with his magic. He glanced around before he spotted the next one. Contrary to the largest one, this one was tiny. A mere inch and mostly fluff; he easily scooped it up as he walked out of the kitchen.

He placed the feathers besides the first under the bookcase, but held onto the smallest one for a moment. Looking at it, an idea sparked in his mind, and he finally put it down and went back out with a grin.

Going from room to room, he scrounged up each feather that laid around. Big ones, small ones, ones that were smooth and others that were ruffled. But mostly, he kept his eyes open for the smaller ones in particular, and once he felt that he had enough, he brought his haul back to the bookcase.

He selected only the finest, smallest ones and held them up in his arms while sporting a toothy grin.

"it's time."

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Hey, you okay? You look super tired!"

Slowly lifting your eyes from the sidewalk, you looked over to Delilah who had decided to accompany you home for the night. You huffed and shifted the pack on your back irritably.

"Hmmph...just a long day."

Another glance towards the pup let you know that she was begging for details you didn't feel up to giving, but you didn't have the energy to resist those eyes.

"Just, it's...a thing, going on with one of the clans who are being troublesome."

Delilah shook herself up defensively and sharpened her gaze.

"Gah, really? Which one?!"

"Rueban and Amelia's." You muttered. Delilah offered an understanding look and patted your back.

"Really? Well, it's not surprising, they're always causing fights. What do they want this time? And with you?"

"Oh god." A sigh left you as all the absurd reasons came up in the forefront of your mind. "Well, first they came to Judy demanding our delivery service for reasons they wouldn't, uh, clarify about."

"Of course." She growled.

"Then they wanted to strike some kind of deal so that they wouldn't have to pay as much, all the while having the audacity to complain of me being 'untrushworthy' and 'unable to properly handle their products' and whatnot, yet they still wanted to, geez, I don't even know at this point. Nothing they said was making any sense to us."

The stress writhing under the surface was churning uneasily as you thought about it, but seeing Delilah instantly dive off the deep end and start barking out complains and curses about the craziness of it all made it bearable. Yet knowing that you'd just have to resume dealing with it tomorrow didn't exactly leave you feeling great.  
Before you knew it, your house came into view and Delilah's rants were beginning to shimmer down. Despite yourself and your crappy day, you turned to her and gave her a genuine grin, one that she returned tenfold.

"Hey, it'll be better tomorrow, yeah? And if it isn't then I'll beat all'a their asses! And then me and you'd go out 'n have the best day ever anyways!"

You laughed along with her hearty guffaws. "That sounds nice."

"Fuck yeah it does!" She practically roared as she plowed into you and wrapped you up in a mighty hug. A gasp was ripped from you, but thankfully you were released shortly thereafter, and soon she left with a happy goodbye and you were standing in front of the door to your home. Now that she was gone, the somber mood started to creep back in, and with a deep breath to calm your nerves for tomorrow, you twisted the doorknob and finally entered. As soon as you walked in, the deep voice of your housemate piped up.

"oh, hey _ _ _ _ _."

"Hello Sa-...Jack. Did you have a good day today?" You bent down to slip off your shoes, not noticing the restrained snorts that your small housemate was struggling to contain as he waited patiently. You quirked a brow to yourself as you wondered what he thought was so funny, especially after the slightly strained talk from that morning, but you were glad that he wasn't too hung up about whatever had upset him.

"snrk- yup, sure did. there're plenty of things to _quill_ my boredom around here, hehe."

A snort left you as you stood back up and faced the couch, where his voice was coming from.

"Heh, did you really just-"

The words died in your throat as you stared openly at the small bitty standing, smug, on the arm of the couch. Your mouth hung open in surprise at the sight but you hardly cared about that small detail at the moment, all you can do was stare at-at...

"yes?" Jack cooed, and waggled his eyebrows. Those brows; his suddenly big and bushy eyebrows that sat upon his skull, crafted with bunches of feathers and tape. And to make it worse, paired with it was the goofiest looking mustache you've ever seen- also made with feathers.

Where those _your_ feathers?

He gave it a little wiggle as he beamed up at you. Your lip twitched and suddenly your finding it very hard not to laugh right now- it's just so absurd! But of course, he saw this and quickly started pulling faces at you that send the brows and 'stache dancing, and just like that your lungs burst and you bunch over as you howled with laughter. You were heaving by the time he joined in, and you let yourself fall to the floor as your body shook in mirth. Slowly, your giggles faded off and your left feeling fuzzy; warm; grounded to the moment and without worry for what tomorrow might hold.

It was very refreshing.

"Hehe, how long were you waiting for me to come home to see that?" You inquired, wiping a stray tear from your eyes.

He smirked and said, "about an hour." before wiggling his brows again.

You grinned and shuffled over to lean back against the couch below him. You shook your head in disbelief when you heard him.

"Oh my god..." You tried to hide your giggles with a groan. "You're too much. Just- too much."

The fabric shifted softly above you, and a moment later a small weight plopped down on your shoulder. When you turned you saw his face right up by yours, and as soon as you locked eyes with him he fiercely waggled the brows and 'stache again.

The rest of the night was spend laughing and having a good time together, all tensions and problems held between you two melting away with jokes, puns and memes.  
It was one of the best nights you've ever had, and sleep came easily when it finally ended.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The heavy door slammed behind you as you stormed out from the side of a large building. The sounds of screams, roars and destruction was muffled, but still seeped out through the door. Your alpha's voice rang out authoritatively as she struggled to handle the outraged couple from yesterday, but it was clear that she was starting to seriously lose her nerves just as you had.

Fuming, you paced aggressively as you rewound and replayed the events over and over, only getting more riled as you went over each shouted word and angry gesture. You and Judy did your best to appease them and try to work out a deal that both sides would like, but nothing either of you said could calm them. Instead, they only grew more fierce as the meeting advanced, and it was basically their way or the high way. And nothing they wanted was reasonable, not to mention that half of what they said were swears and hissed gibberish. A growled slipped past and your cheek stung from where one of them had slashed at you. Four thin, red lines were cut across your skin and left a trickle of blood running down, and you raised a hand to gingerly paw at it.

It stung more and you whisked your hand away with an angry huff. How dare they- _how dare they_ , come into your land and attack you when you saw their insane demands for what they were; _insane_.

 _Well, at least I got my dues._ You thought when you glanced over your reddened claws. You didn't tend to strike out as much as the others, but those two were asking for it. Practically begging for it as soon as they back in after what they tried to pull yesterday.

But then again, you now had two pissy alpha's you probably hated you now. Er, at least more than they did to begin with. They definitely wouldn't be taking your service after that, and to top it off they'll most likely still cause one hell of a fit anyways.

 _Sigh_.

Well, it's not there were many other options for them anyways. No trustable options anyhow. See how they like it when someone else screws them over after they try to find some different, dingy delivery service. Heh.

You glance over at the door when you realize the noises have died down some, and you take a moment to calm down as well. They were awful, sure, but there was no reason to dwell on it for too long.

Especially not when you remember Delilah's promise on bettering your day if it was bad again.

Feeling a tad bit more at ease, you slipped your phone out from your pocket and started messaging her about it.

**_ _ _ _ _: Another crappy day :P**

A short moment later and your phone pinged.

**Deli: Oh no wat happened? was it those 2 again?!! no worries I can bite them for u!!! >:D**

You snort at the message and tap away at the screen with a smile.

**_ _ _ _ _: No need haha but yeah it was them. Was actually thinking of those drinks you talked about yesterday, you still up for that?**

Almost immediately-

**Deli: Fuck yeah pal!!! Lets go rite now!! ;U;**

A few laughs left you at her eagerness, and you readily agreed to meet up with her at a bar you both agreed on. With a few snowflakes twinkling down on the murky streets below, you pocketed the device and began to walk.

~

You were out for...quite a bit longer than exactly planned, but at the moment you could care less. After you left the building that housed your pack's meetings and other events, you caught up with your friend and immediately started to drink away the stress of your works together. While you stuck mostly to your favorites, you obliged Delilah when she offered you a sip from each of her fruity, colorful drinks too, and overall had a great night to an otherwise crappy day. You found yourself quickly easing into it, and soon the two of you were enjoying absolutely everything. You swapped stories with her, watched and even joined along as she playfully flirted with the bartender, and rocked out to the music that played somewhere in the building.

By the time you two finally left, the stars were out and you were admittable a lit unstable on your feet. Surprisingly, it was Delilah who seemed to have kept her wits about her (for the most part) while you were downgraded to needing to drape an arm around her while she helped walk you home. Luckily, nothing bad awaited you in such a vulnerable state, and both of you giggled and swapped jokes and silly words with one another along the way.

"He-heeey." You giggled and pawed at Delilah's face, vying for her attention.

"Whhhat?" She drawled happily while giving a nip at your intruding fingers.

"Wha-what do yah do when...when l-life gives ya lemons?"

You giggled like a fool while she turned to you with a baffled look on her face, clearly not expecting you to toss out a joke to freely.

"W-what do ya do with 'em?" She asked genuinely. Your reddened cheeks bunched up in a wide smile, and taking in a breath, you said-

" _You read them_!"

You burst out laughing and huffing at Delilah's startled face, but she quickly gave in and laughed with all her might.

"Oh my god! Tha-that wasss..." She suddenly smirked and looked at you with her brows hitched up to her hairline. "ri- _dick_ -ulous!"

You shook with heaved laughs, practically wheezing by the time the two of you were walking up to your door. The muscles in your face were strained and sore, but you too giddy and happy to care. With a shaky hand you fished out your keys, but only succeeded in dropping them.

"Haha, s-so klutzy!" Delilah teased you as she bent over and whisked up the keys and proceeded to unlock the door and ignoring the light glare you sent her way.  
With your key, she turned the nob and pushed the door open, holding onto your arm as she lead you inside and gently sat you down on the couch.

"hey _ _- oh, uh..."

Delilah perked up at the new voice and looked around until she spotted the Sansy standing in the room with them. She squinted at him, then her eyes lit up as she realized who he was.

"Oh hey!" She yipped happily and dropped down to the floor in front of him, which made him leap back with a curse. "You're the same Bitty that I helped track down! How'ya doing little dude?!"

"Uh-uhh..." He watched her with a weary, but mostly confused expression. She had helped _ _ _ _ _ find him? He didn't recall that, as he hadn't been awake for the most part when they had came to get him on that day, but now that he thinks about it they might have mentioned that they had a friend who had helped at the time... so this was that same girl then, huh?

She strode on with the one-sided conversation as he was thinking. "Well you l-look good to me! You were kinda beat up then, ya-yahh know, real nasty break there." She gave a theatrical shiver, but then seemed to quiet down and focus. "Well, anyways! _ _ _ _ _ here got a bit happy-go-lucky with their drinks," She giggled, and when Jack looked at her questioningly, she went on to clarify. "We just got back from this great bar! So, er, we're both a bit out of it, h-hhhaha. Do, uhh...do yah think you could keep an eye on them for now? I c'n get the water and stuff beh-before I go home myself."

He was a bit dazed, and took a moment to sort through all the slurred info that been dumped on him before nodding, and Delilah smiled widely and shot up like a bullet.  
"Great! Then- woahh, shouldn't 'ave stood up so fast, blehhh..."

Looking considerably less lively, she went off into the kitchen, and the sound of running water started up. Jack glanced up at the Human on the couch; you seemed on the verge of passing out but was still watching blearily as Delilah returned with a glass of water and passed it off to you. With wobbly hands you grasped it and took small, tired sips.  
Delilah went off once more and returned with a bottle of pain pills and placed them on the kitchen table. "Give 'em some'a these when they start regretting life, hahahaaa!"

He silently nodded again and watched her head out. You too looked over and smiled when Delilah waved to you and grinned happily before leaving, and you winced when the door was slammed shut loudly.

"hey, uh, you okay?"

You're body felt weighed down, but you shifted to look over at the concerned Bitty who had teleported onto the arm of the couch besides you. You gave a smile and nodded weakly before plopping down on your side and resting your face right besides him.

"Ye-yeeeah, 'm good." You yawned widely and promptly closed your eyes, missing the startled and slightly frightened look on Jack's face as he took in the sight of your sharp teeth. He gave a shiver, remembering how you first met. Sure, it was in the past now, but it still caught him off guard.

But not as off guard as he was when you moved again and snuggled your head up against him whole frame, leaving him stuttering and sputtering in confusion. Your hair waved out and tickled his face, making him sneeze and sniffle.

"uh, heh, getting real friendly there, huh pal? ...uh, buddy?"

Giving him one last sleepy look, you curled your arms around him and quickly dozed off, leaving him standing in bewilderment.

"heh, cute...wait." Cute? Since when had this beastly person become 'cute'?

Little snores started to slip past their lips. Oh, that's when, apparently. If he was being honest, it was incredibly endearing, and he felt a swell of affection rise in his soul. Without thinking too much about it, he raised a hand and gently patted their head (as best he could with how small he was), and was a bit shocked to discover how silky your hair was. He tugged a strand free and let it fall slowly through his fingers, and it reminded him of the softness of the feathers he had collected.

Curiously, he glanced over at your wings and tail; the two most notable animal-like features that stood out immediately. He took in how your wings had shifted, and where one was now draped across your torso like a blanket, while the other was tucked neatly under your weight. The long feathers of your tail shielded your feet from any cold that lingered in the air, curled ever so slightly at the tips. He was, has been, a bit intrigued about them recently, and often found himself wondering how it all worked. How was it that one Beast-Human could take on the appearance of a bird, and the other a dog? Why did you all look so different except for your regular Human features? He was struck with the urge to ask, but you were sleeping right now.

Jack looked over your peaceful face before turning and sliding down onto the cushion below. Gripping handfuls of your clothes he hoisted himself up until he was standing on top of you, and his hands moved out to catch his balance when your breathing rocked him side to side. Catching his footing, he reached out for your wing, letting his curiosity guide his actions as he ran his hand down it gently. He prodded it, feeling the bones underneath, and traced it all the way up to your shoulder blade before glancing back to see if he woke you up. No, good, but now that he was looking he noticed a lone fang peeking out from under your lip. He wasn't too sure about this one, but, you were sleeping...  
Ah, fuck it. He wanted to see. Moving closer, he sidled up near your lips and nearly jumped when you gave a particularly loud snore. He huffed a laugh at himself and settled his nerves before tentatively poking the tooth. It was hard, and the tip was as cutting as the point of a needle. He felt himself shiver, but, surprisingly wasn't afraid. He looked, really looked this time, and noted that it wasn't as big as he imagined it whenever his thoughts strayed back to that day.

Just as he was about to move onto investigating your claws, you shifted in your sleep and rolled over onto your back. Jack yelped out and narrowly avoided being pinned to the back of the couch as he scrambled onto your chest.

And that's when he felt it. The beating of your heart lay just beneath his fingertips and he was shocked into stillness. The soft vibrations trailed up his arms, soothing out the tensions in his bones and urging him to put his worries at ease and rest.

His eyelids grew droopy, and he felt himself lower until he was spread out comfortably over the relaxing beat, letting it lull him in deeper as sleep called his name.

_ba-bump_

_ba-bump_

_ba-bump_

He closed his eyes, his soul glowing brightly in his ribcage and mimicking the beats of their heart as his mind drifted off into sleep.

Today...today had been a good day.


	5. Shopping Day (Part 1 of 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You, Jack, and Delilah visit the town plaza.  
> You're unprepared  
> Delilah's flirty  
> Jack's t.b.b (the best bitty)  
> And nothing eventful happens, hehe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Waves arms* Whoa, before you read the Ch. I have some notes for you to read.  
> So there's new tags now, in case you didn't see them. This is where the story starts poking more at Reader's backstory, and for fair warning to those who don't want to read stuff like this, the beginning starts off with a nightmare that insinuates that the Reader had a close call and was nearly raped. If you want to skip it, skim down until you get to "...And you woke up."  
> And once more later on, the Reader has a brief run-in with someone near their heat cycle and gets a little freaked out. To skip it, stop at "At that you smiled, reassured, and started out of the aisle." and resume at " "Oh there you are!" She said, voice filled with fabricated cheer."
> 
> Welp, anywho, I hope you guys enjoy this Ch., and I just wanted to say that I'm so happy to see that we've reached 80 kudos and would like to thank you for being so awesome and checking this out!!

Darkness bordered your vision, and everything appeared to you in a haze. Sounds were oddly echoed, scents either too vivid or non-existent, and each movement you made seemed forced and unnatural, as though you were being lead by some unseen puppet master that wanted nothing more than to take you further into the black fog of the streets ahead.

You felt weak, your limbs shaky and cold as you treaded through the familiar roads and back alleys of your old home. Each step made the desperation- the foreboding weight on your back press down further, and you felt pressed to call out for the one friend who you could rely on to help you in any time of need, but when you reached for her name if seemed almost to slip from your memory. You reached and reached, but each time her name was yanked back, and all the while your feet were tapping quietly forward in the empty town.

Instead of her name, which you so deeply wished for at the moment, an unwanted memory crashed down on you. You gasped and shivered fearfully as flashes of claws and pain ripped across your eyelids forcefully, and when you opened them again you barely saw something flicker to your left.

"Stay back." The growled words left you without conscious thought, yet your sounds seemed all but swallowed in the silence that hung over everything. A chill permeated the air as another flicker went by, with something rattling as it shifted around, and a beady pair of dull eyes met yours through the dark. More eyes joined the first quickly. The first pair flicked over your form with interest, and a ratty snicker rose up, filling up all the useless space around and making you take a defensive step back.

Your soul shook fearfully, but you drowned it out in favor of your instincts as the veil seeped away, and the figures of other beastly people were revealed. Your clawed hand reached up to tug at your collar, but was met with the exposed skin of your neck instead. For a moment your fingertips trailed over your hammering pulse before dropping away, and you inhaled deeply as one of the group peeled away from the rest and swayed forward cockily. A heavy aroma dripped from him, one breath of it nearly choking you.

"D-Don't," You swallowed anxiously. "Don't come closer..."

He ignored you, and soon the rest followed after him, circling in on you.

All around you the world bled out into nothingness, and they circled closer and closer. Nearer and nearer still, and when you tried to run, scream, cry, anything, you found you couldn't, and then he was there, breathing in your face as his glinting eyes bore down into yours. The overbearing smell of his heat numbed your nose and brought tears to your eyes.

As his claws dug into your back and your waist, and when everyone else pitched in and ripped away at your clothes with sharpened talons and teeth, all you could do was whimper pleadingly.

"P-Please..."

Your shirt was in tatters.

"Don't...please stop..."

Your pants lay in shreds.

"No..."

Something was tugging at your undergarments when suddenly, the world twisted and warped in on itself. The ground vanished, and a whirlwind of claws and teeth, of collars and fluffy brown tails, of ivory bones and bent feathers all came crashing-

d

o

w

n

.

...And you woke up.

Terrified, you jerked in place and immediately regretted it when your skull seemed hell bent on caving in. Just for a second, you let your mind linger on your nightmare, and a shiver worked up your spine before your head throbbed again and dragged you back to wakefulness. You breathed in and forced the lingering fear down. Better just forget about it for now, it wasn't like it was the first time you've dreamed of that anyways.

A soft snort, and something shifting on your chest tempted you to look down. Doing just that, you saw your bitty (wait what?), er, Jack dozing comfortably over your heart. A smile tugged at your lips, and before you could stop it, a soft coo slipped past your lips at the cute image of the sleeping skeleton.

Taking a moment to simply lay there, you let your eyes slide over his sleeping form. You found yourself taking a peek at his previously injured leg, and grinned at it's healthier appearance. It had taken a while, but eventually you had gotten him to let you look at it, and were surprised to have found it almost completely healed. It wasn't long until you deemed it okay to remove the make-shift bandages.

Now that you were more awake, you carefully, _carefully_ slipped the bitty onto a palm as you shifted upright. You felt something crusty slide past one of your thumb though, and looked over at the Sansy. Bringing him closer, you tugged gently at his jacket and scrunched up your face when you spotted all the gross stains that it had accumulated.

_Oh, gross._ Your thought was reinforced when you took a peek at the dirty white shirt underneath, and the slight rips on the hems of his shorts. Was...was this his only pair of clothes? Thinking back on it- yeah, they were.

After that epiphany it was very quickly decided that Jack desperately needed new, clean, clothes, and that today would be a shopping day just for that purpose.

But first- ow ow ow, something to ease the hurt of your hangover! Mental note: Never let Delilah encourage you to drink anymore. Only pain awaited you at the end of that road.

So, standing up and placing the still sleeping Jack down on your vacant seat, you moved to turn around, only to spot a pill bottle resting on top of the table in the kitchen.  
_Huh, Did she leave that out for me? Or...Jack? Both?_ You wondered as you crossed the threshold into the kitchen and picked up the bottle. The thought sent warm fuzzies fluttering in your chest, and again you were graced with a gentle smile. Unscrewing the cap, you tapped out two pills and then moved to the counter and started up the coffee machine.

You briefly wondered if indulging in caffeine right now was a wise idea, but frankly didn't care enough to stop now.

Coffee cup now in hand and pills swallowed, you went back out to check on Jack.

He's propped up, barely awake and rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he spotted you and offered a tired grin. You find yourself giving one right back to him before taking another sip of coffee and plopping down besides him.

"breakfast?" He asked expectantly, and you snort, finding it both funny and warming that you two had settled into a welcome routine within the past week. However when your headache threatened to rise up again, you had to shake your head and watch sadly at his disappointed expression.

"Sorry, just cereal today." You murmured, bringing up a hand to rub at your temple. "Feels like someone took a sledgehammer to my head, ha..."

His disappointment swapped out for guilty concern. "oh yeah, almost forgot, uh, are you okay? there are some pills in the kitchen that'll help."

"Yup, and I just took some, thanks." You replied, and stood up and offered an open hand to the bitty. While you weren't too hungry, you were sure that Jack was, so may as well help him get something to eat.

He spared only a moment's hesitation before calmly climbing on.

After bringing him to the table and dishing out some breakfast, you began thinking more about your planned shopping excursion. For the most part, all you really needed were clothes for Jack, but you may as well pick up other things while you're out too.

Hmm, and why not invite Delilah as well? Ever since Jack started living with you, you haven't had as much time to hang out with her as you usually did, and this seemed like the perfect time to nudge her into your plans.

You take out your phone and bring up your messages before starting to tap away at the screen.

**_ _ _ _ _: Yo, wanna go shopping with me and Jack later?**

It took a second, but soon your phone pinged again.

**Deli: OMG MY HOMIE!! Who is dis Jack n does he treat u well??!**

Your sputtering made Jack peer up at you from over his over-sized cereal bowl, one brow raised in question. You chose to ignore him for now.

And shit, you didn't tell her about the Sansy's name yet, have you? Before you can even think of sorting things straight with Delilah, your phone buzzed again.

**Deli: Giimme those deets i needto know what moves he did on uuuuuu! whats he taste like??**

And then all you can do is _breathe_ before-

_Ping!_

**Deli: And yeah Ill come wth u i gotta make sure hes good for u rite?!**

**Deli: N hey maybe if hes rlly good then hve you thought of sharing? ;3;**

You're still reeling from the sudden barrage of messages when-

**Deli: Has he...unleashed te beast within wit you yet?!!! *wiggly brows***

One thunk later, and your forehead has made acquaintances with the table top.

"Ow..."

Jack, having watched your increasingly reddening face before you slammed it into wood, tried vainly to cover up his laughs when he asked, "you okay? what just happened over there?"

"N-Nothing!" You yelped out, quickly moving to correct Delilah's assumptions.

**_ _ _ _ _: hes not a mate for godssake! Jack is the btty its his name!**

You hardly care about the typos as you smash the send button.

Your head lifted to the sound of snickering at the end of the table, and you sent a glare at Jack. He laughed even harder at your leer and only tried to stop when you made to move away from the table.

"no, wait! heheheh, d-don't- what happened?"

Silently, you moved back into your seat and schooled your expression before you spoke.

"It's-"

_Ping!_

"..."

Jack nearly choked on his giggles as your phone went off again.

"...We're going shopping later so get ready, bonehead."

At your remark he tilted his head back and completely lost it, wheezing as you stood up and promptly walked out of the kitchen and reluctantly checked your cell.

**Deli: Well damn *---*' and i was hoping to...whn and where we going to?**

Shaking your head, you quickly sent back the time and where you're heading to. After you confirmed that she had seen it you go off and get ready for the day ahead, uncertain of how you'd survive it when it was already getting this crazy so early on.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

When they left the house that morning, Jack wasn't prepared for all the life that was found in the town square.

They were surrounded by shops and stores on all sides, and all around them were people gathered together in groups and wandering around between buildings. All types of beastly appendages rose from their forms. Like the large, round eyes of an owl. Or thick coarse fur, like a bear's. Something like the long ropy tail of a rat. Yet beyond the physical differences, he could make out a familiar pattern among them all. For most, they were shifty and weary of others. Their eyes shimmered with distrust and rarely did he see that look drop away to anything else when they were around others, but when it did, it was almost friendly. Those that truly took a liking to each other, stuck together, and were often caught up in the motions of the activities around them.

He almost expected those who looked the most alike to group together, like real animals in the wild, yet nothing like that happened here. It took him some time to figure it out, but after watching you and Delilah skirt around certain people, but tolerate others, he finally saw their collars. There was a wide variation of collars between people. Some displayed black leather ones, studded with spikes and nails. Another proudly displayed a thin white collar dotted with tiny shells. The most familiar were the dark brown ones with red diamond tags, and he quickly looked over to realize that they were the same collars you and Delilah wore too. You and her would stick closer to those who had collars like yours, and mostly left the others alone. They must be a part of your pack, he thought, watching them pass by.

But the most interesting and surprising thing he saw were other humans there. Like, actually normal, not animal-like humans. They're few and far in between, and as far as he could tell they're standing away from everyone else and mostly keeping to themselves, eyes flicking between crowds. He kept his eye on them until his little group went into one of the stores and he lost sight of them.

He felt you shift a bit before speaking up. "You okay?"

The hidden concern in your voice (he can hear it so clearly now, how had he missed it before?) warmed him up, and he let the tension leave him when he answered back. "yeah, 'm good." He looked up to see you peering at him out of the corners of your eyes before looking back out into the store. "Okay." You murmured, a little uncertain, but trusting his answer.

"Augh, you two are such slowpokes! Hurry up, we've got stuff to do!"

You and Jack looked over to Delilah, who's impatiently waiting further away and seemed in the middle of deciding whether or not ditching you was a valid option.

You both snickered before complying and hurrying over to where you'd all decided to go first; the toy section. And, no, not to actually buy toys, even if Delilah's hype made it seem that way. After realizing that neither you nor Deli knew how to sew, your next bet was on finding something worthwhile with doll clothes. Though you were skeptical on what you'd find, it was the general bet that there would be _something_ both comfortable and practical enough to use...hopefully.

Thankfully you, and more importantly Jack, could sample what they felt like through the interactive openings in the plastic boxes and decide from there.

"Hmm, what about this?" You asked, holding up a box featuring a way too skinny doll in an equally too short jacket and skirt. Jack reached through and felt the fabric.

"mmmaybe? feels kinda meh. and there's no way i'm wearing that thing." He pointed at the short skirt, making you snicker.

"Aww, and I was wondering too." You pretended to pout while the little skele shot you a mild glare.

"I for one think you'd look great in pink Jack~" Delilah cooed up as she scouted alongside you two, a wide smirk on her face. Jack tucked his skull further into his jacket and looked away sheepishly, to both of your delights.

For a while you all kept looking around, but by the end of it only found a few that might work out. By this point Jack had given up the search for clothes and had taken up a spot on the shelves to snooze, and you were wondering aloud as to whether or not you should try to sew something instead, even if you didn't quite know how to.

"You could totally learn to though!" Delilah, the lovely pup, was still eager as ever even after the lost time and was even trying to convince you of your sewing potential. "If I could learn how to lockpick from internet tutorials then you could definitely learn how to sew!"

You paused and slowly turned to her. "What?"

"Hm?" She turned and batted her eyelashes innocently. After some silence she moved over and started ushering you over to where the fabrics were kept. "Oh, go on! At least take a look at what's here and think about it? Unless you wanna keep looking at these things." She held up a mutant looking baby doll, and that was all the motivation you needed to consider it.

"Okay, okay, fine." You huffed. "Keep an eye on Jack while I look around?"

"Of course! No one'll bother my newest bestest buddy!"

At that you smiled, reassured, and started out of the aisle.

As you walked out, you bumped into someone. He grumbled roughly while you steadied yourself, and went to move away before his scent hit you, and you tensed on the spot.  
"Watch it." He grunted, but you hardly hear him. No, you thought, why today of all days. Why on a day when you wake up from those nightmares, why?

When you don't move or acknowledge him, he paused and sent a glare your way, the stench of his anger doing nothing to wipe away the odor of an oncoming heat. It's thick and heavy, like humid summer air pounding down relentlessly on blazing concrete sidewalks. You don't know when it happened, but now the two of you have your gazes locked together, with you bristled and defensive, and him angered yet longing for something more. You nearly lose yourself when he licked his teeth with a gross, slimy tongue, and almost fall back into dangerous memories of how it had almost happened, of how they had almost taken you, when, like your personal savior, Delilah bounds up in between you two.

"Oh there you are!" She said, voice filled with fabricated cheer. "We were just about to check out those cloths remember?"

And then she'd pulled you away from the stranger before it could escalate further. Even though she was leading you back to where Jack was, and not where the fabrics were, you didn't care. You were too shaken up to care about sewing right now.

You jump when something blips onto your shoulder, and Jack looked at you with apologetic eyes as he settled into place.

"hey..." He started, sounding uncertain and concerned. "what hap- are you okay?"

You barely spared him a glance, too preoccupied with peering over your shoulder to see if he was still there. A quick look and, no, he was gone. Thank god.

You register Delilah's voice, now softer than before, and Jack shifted on your shoulder. She seemed to be talking to him, reassuring him maybe, and you only turned back when she carefully placed a hand on your back and ushered you out of the aisle.

"Come on." She said soothingly, leading you from the store. You took a deep breath and pushed the panic down deep inside. Later, you seemed to be telling it. Fear and panic later, in the safety of your home. Not now, when anyone could see your weakness and exploit it.

"B-But, the stuff..." You murmured, casting a tired glance back at the store.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get it for you later. Let's just go here for now."

You looked up and saw your favorite coffee shop just ahead of you, surrounded on both sides by other stores on the block. You held back a sniff as you opened the door and walked in. The smooth aroma of coffee beans and creamer instantly washed away any lingering odors from the stranger, and you gave Delilah a sappy, appreciative look as you all sat down at one of the round tables and slowly relaxed again.

How had you gotten so lucky to meet her?

"What coffee you want?" She asked, and you quietly told her before she stood up to order at the counter. You fiddled with your hands as you waited, trying to ignore the awkward silence by listening in on the little noises around the shop.

The weight from your shoulder lifted as Jack blipped to the table top. He hesitated to reach for your hand, and instead shuffled in place before asking what was on his mind.  
"you didn't answer me before, are you okay?"

You closed your eyes and hummed, thinking over his question.

 _Who's ever okay?_ Your pessimism drawled. It was almost enough to make you huff out a brittle laugh, but not quite. Were you okay? You reached in, felt the remaining fear rolling over in your gut. The reminder of what those prick's has nearly done had been brought up both in your nightmare, and after you ran into that man who exuded that sickly-sweet smell.

But then your mind drifted to your friends. As cheesy as it was, they made it okay. Before that line had been completely crossed, Delilah had shown up. That was the first time you had ever met her, both of you torn up and near-defeated until you teamed up against your shared aggressors. And then everything after that had turned around. You made a lifelong friend, got a pack, a job...

And then there was Jack. Sure, things had started of rocky, (you cringed slightly thinking about it) but now, every time you came home you would see his sly smirk, or his doofy grin, and feel the tensions of the day wash away. The both of you had a comfortable routine that you had easily sunk into and looked forward to each day. His calm demeanor, his jokes and pranks, the way his eyes light up everyday at breakfast, all of it made had brought more joy into your life than you thought possible.

"umm...?"

Cracking open your eyes, you looked down at the worried bitty and slowly smiled at him.

"Yeah." You breathed, letting yourself relax into your seat. "I'm fine now."

Jack, seeing you slump down in content, finally let himself sit down into a slouch and return your grin.

Just then Delilah returned, carrying over the beverages. She gave you a once over before plopping down and joining in on your smile-fest. In a faux deep voice, she drawled, "Hey, I gots the 'stuff'." and slowly slid your coffee over to you, making you snicker. You took a sip of the brewed drink and let the warmth seep through you.

Reaching for your wallet, you said, "Heh, you forgot to add 'you gots the cash?'" and moved to pull out some money before she stopped you by placing her hand on yours.

"No need, toots." She winked and pushed your wallet back at you. "It's on me,"

"But-"

"Yo suga momma."

"...Nevermind." You acquiesced and tried to hide your amusement, however seeing the humored look on Jack's face was all it took to push you over the edge and laugh a little.  
For the moment, all three of you sat back and sipped on your drinks (Jack had snatched one of the tiny creamer cups and seemed to be growing a new addiction to the stuff) before Delilah leaned over and said that she'd was going back to the store, and would be back with the doll clothes and fabrics and left. As it were, you were content to simply sit back and sip away at your drink and let the soft sounds of the shop sooth you further.

Yet, if life was any indicator, it showed that it was apathetic towards your struggles as the minutes ticked by and your friend had yet to return. And right as the two of you were beginning to wonder, something crashed loudly against the windows while a myriad of voices started to rise.

Startled and cautious, you ditched the table and swept up Jack and peered outside to see an unruly crowd of Beastlies and Humans alike, both sides filled with rage.


	6. Shopping Day (Part 2 of 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one was prepared for this, and no one knows how to handle it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slams head on keyboard* yay it's finally done...Ch. 6 is here!!

Violence wasn't unheard of in the towns and cities where those like you lived, but seeing it in such a large scale still made you freeze up with uncertainty. Outside the glass windows of the shop, slowly yet steadily spanning out to cover the whole parking lot (those cars were going to be trashed, you thought briefly), was a riot. A rippling, boisterous, hazardous riot, and the people outside were quickly working themselves up into a frenzy, spitting insults and slurs at the other side, angry gestures and unintelligible noises crossing the invisible boundary with the same ease as rain crashing down from a stormy sky.

And at first glance, you would think that it were just some packs warring with one another, as such things happened between the groups, but a sharp eye such as your own would catch the multitude of collars dangling from the necks of those caught up in the mayhem, and as quickly as the thought had come, it had gone, leaving you wondering once more what could be happening right now.

Of course, you wouldn't even be standing here in the first place if not for a few reasons. For once your mind and instincts were in agreement with each other. Run. Flee. It's too dangerous to remain here any longer. You didn't know what was going on outside and that both pissed you off and made you incredibly on edge.

 _Frightened_ , a more honest person would admit.

But, no. You can't leave just yet. Delilah still hadn't returned and knowing her as well as you do, the stupidly reckless pup was probably out there too, swept up among the angry crowds just like all the others. Even though she was a great friend to you, there were moments where you wanted to curse her out for her needless pride and bravery. What if it got her hurt one day?

 _Not if_. You corrected yourself. _It's never 'if', is it_?

By then your decision was set, and you rested a hand on the door handle before you left.

"Stay close," you murmured tonelessly to Jack. You nudged him closer to your neck before brushing your hair over to his side to better cover him up. "Don't do anything and don't be seen." you waited until he nodded before turning back to the door.

 _We'll be in and out, quick and easy_ , you wanted to add, but the words got caught in your throat. You swallowed them down before pushing open the door and slipping out of the cafe.

Immediately, an avalanche of pure noise crashed down on you. Yelling, shouting, banging, growling, cursing- every sound piled up into an orchestra of aggression and you flinched as soon as you stepped outside. Jack cowed similarly and shifted closer to you as you moved along.

Forcing yourself to peer deep into the thick of it, you swept your gaze out in hope of finding Delilah. As the shouting rose, your wings did too, curling up against your sides like shields, and you pressed against the wall when things near you got too rowdy. With everyone shouting, it was impossible not to hear what was being thrown out from both sides.

"GET THE FUCK OUTTA OUR TERF BEFORE WE KILL YAH!"

"EVEN THE OMEGAS COULD KICK YOUR ASSES!"

"NO PACK, NO PROBLEM- FOR US!"

Your ear twitched at the last one. No pack? That really only left two options. Whoever was on the other side of this was either a group of lone Beast-Humans, or just Humans. You doubted it was the first, and a quick turn of the head and some looking confirmed it. Through the ever changing, rolling mass of people, you could make out those without wings or tails or claws, and it finally all made sense. This wasn't a pack fight, and that made it all the more concerning. Technically, whoever shouted out last had a point. Those who weren't under any pack weren't under any sort of definite law, as the Alphas were the main authoritative source in places like yours. The Human masses could get riled up if something happened, and their police could try and get involved all they wanted, but at the end of the day the determining result weighed on the decisions of the involved Alpha and their pack.

Not only that, the town square was open territory, too. Open territory currently hosting a conflict involving members ranging from many different packs. If something did happen, then not only would it likely piss off the Human police force, but the responsibility of the event would be placed not just on one Alpha's shoulders, but them all.

The thought made you want to throw up.

And throughout it all, the Humans were matching those shouts with just as much vigor. Things like "FUCKING ANIMALS!", "CAGE THEM IN THE ZOO WHERE THEY BELONG!" and "FILTHY BEASTS PROBABLY HAVE RABIES." were thrown around carelessly. You felt your feathers rise out, and under his breath Jack cursed as he listened to all the hate being spewed out.

Remembering your goal, you tried to wrench your thoughts away from the mayhem (which was impossible, you were sure you'd be deaf by the end of it) and scanned the masses for your friend. It was only when you dared away from the wall and pushed slyly past some squirming bodies that you finally caught a glimpse of the pup.

"Oh for fuck's sake." your hissed words were drowned out by the roars of the crowd.

Delilah was where you thought she'd be, yet at the same time you couldn't help the feeling of shock and exasperation. She was right up at the front lines, angrily pitching in with those around her as the other side kept her reeled in with hooks made of venomous words.

Not knowing whether to curse her out or be more concerned about how close she was to the others, you simply marched up and grabbed hold of her shoulder. You tried to tug her away, but she remained fixed to her spot while her face scrunched up at your actions.

"Come on Delilah." you huffed, stiffening your own stance as you turned back to face her head on.

"What? No!" she barked out, gesturing furiously towards the offenders on the other side. "Do you see this shit? They can't just do this and-and just get away with it! We need'ta show them just what-"

Out of nowhere, an empty soda can flew through the air and bounced off the side of Delilah's head. In that instant she froze, angry voice caught in her throat, and you found yourself still in response. Slowly, like something straight out of a cartoon or anime, she turned to find her assailant. Further mimicking her, you shifted around to look, and focused immediately on the fuming female stomping ever closer to your little trio.

"Ew, another fucking furry." she spat, swaying closer until she stood a few feet away. Her cherry red lips were pulled down into a sneer. Your gaze snapped up, eyes flickering over her and wondering just how big a threat she posed. Sensing your watchful look, she matched it with her, and you peered deeper into her eyes. They were bright green, like spring grass, and her hair spilled down like a chocolate fountain. She had a near picturesque form, plump in all the right places and slim in others, yet under her beauty shimmered a cold cunning that made your skin prickle. She, in turn, seemed to survey you for a moment. Something seemed to tug on your hair, yet you ignored it as the young woman's glare turned to your ruffled wings and claws.

"Jesus, what- it's a demon!" the woman faltered, but quickly gathered herself and shouted to those behind her. "Do you guys see this shit? How disgusting-"

"What did you call her?!" Delilah yelled. Your friend marched angrily up to the stranger, who took a step back at her approached. With one hand she grabbed the woman's shirt and tugged her harshly back in place.

"G-Get your dirty paws off me you stupid mutt!" she yelped, startled and a tad more fearful than before. Hearing the yelling, a few nearby people paused to watch with new found curiosity. Neither noticed, and Delilah growled at the insult. She bared her sharp teeth, ready to spit something back when-

**_PEEUUUWWW!_ **

Something right by your eye, blindingly bright and sizzling the air with energy, zapped by and shot straight for the girl. You flinched, startled and scared at how close it had been as your eye welled up with water in response to the offending heat and light. Something- someone- yelled in pain, but it went in one ear and out the other as instead your attention was completely fixated on the tiny skeleton on your shoulder, and the new skull-creature hovering by his side.

"...Jack?" his name left you in a breezy whisper, but that was all you could manage after seeing him so...serious. His sockets were completely void of the familiar white lights tinged with violet, and instead of being slightly hunched over, he stood straight and rigid. Little beads of sweat broke out all over his skull, and after a second his bones seemed to begin trembling. Feebly, you repeated his name, and he finally tore his hard gaze away from the brunette and over to you. He peered at you, eye-lights slowly returning and flickering shakily over your confused expression. In a soft voice he murmured, "i-it's her. how- why did she-"

"Shit, shit did you see that?! That girl was attacked!"

The shout forced you to look back up to the riot- fuck, how did you nearly forget that you were in the middle of an actual fucking riot?! The woman, someone who was quickly starting to bewilder and anger you just because of how her appearance alone caused Jack to flip his shit, was dramatically cradling her injury while everyone looked over at her with wildly different expressions. Though, for the most part, everyone looked absolutely pissed. Something changed in the air, and you felt it. Felt it vibrate against your skin as something new and potent and dangerous charged the air. Felt it as the floodgates opened and a tidal wave of chaos crashed down over everyone.

"Bullshit! No one did anythi-!"

"Did you see?! Some crazy animal bi-!"

"H-Hey, stay back you crazy freak-!"

Roars and shouts erupted from both sides before, like an avalanche, everyone rushed forward and the clashing sounds of fighting slammed into your ears. You recovered enough to jerk away from an on-coming attack, but not before something moved and fire seared into your arm, leaving behind a bright red mark and a torn sleeve.

You cursed and plucked Jack from your shoulder before anything could happen and tucked him defensively against your chest, where he lay motionless. Everything was a mess. Nothing made sense and you felt the days events tumble wildly in your head while you tried sorting out what was happening right in front of your eyes, and all of it left you anxious and desperate to escape the madness around you. Just get out, your mind said. Everything else can wait, the important thing now is to escape.

"Delilah! Delilah where are you?" your call was washed out over the magnitude of other thundering voices, and you called out louder, hoping that she heard and that she returned to your side safely. As you searched, another person, a Human, leapt from the crowds and suddenly faced you. They swung at you with clenched hands that were already stained heavily with purple bruises and landed on your wings, which had wrapped around you and Jack like a shield. Unlike a shield though, it still hurt, and a pained hiss slipped through your teeth.

Just as they were about to throw another punch, Delilah abruptly fell from the crowd and crashed into them, another Human hot on her tail.

"Jesus Delilah..." you croaked, wondering if you were more shocked at her sudden appearance, or at how often she seemed to be saving you lately.

"_ _ _ _ _? I- shit." she kicked out as her opponent lashed out at her, barely landing the hit from where she lay toppled over your opponent. Jerking into action, you rushed forward and slammed your side into them. They yelled as they fell, and before they could recover you delivered a swift stomp into their groin.

"Damn dude," you almost turned with a snarl after feeling hands on your shoulders, but calmed after seeing it was just Delilah, who was now on her feet and by your side. "Kick the groin; Achievement Unlocked!"

"Come on Deli." you scowled. Now was not the time for jokes.

"Okay okay." she dropped the act and scanned your surroundings for a moment before hurriedly ushering you around the fighting. As you drew close to the edge of the parking lot you both noticed a few people starting to close in again.

Cursing, you tried to go back only to find Delilah holding you firmly in place.

"No can do friendo, just get home safe okay?"

Your shock quickly subsided as frustration boiled under your skin. "I won't let you fight for me again-"

"What? No, just- just go okay! I'll leave as soon as I can after okay? Just accept it and go."

You started to protest, but she gave you a hard push away. You locked onto her eyes and sent her a fierce glare, but seeing her eyes move to your cupped hands a few times and you finally got the silent message, and turned towards home without further complaint.

The overwhelming noise died down behind you as you skirted around streets and sidewalks, until it faded away and left only the familiar sounds of the town, and your pounding heart, which was beginning to slow down as each step brought you into a deeper state of exhaustion. Yet you couldn't rest yet, home was still a while away, your arm still had a ugly red gash, and you would be plagued with too many questions after you dragged the two of you to your doorway, and back inside your home.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The door closed with a tired squeak and a soft click. Jack was still cupped protectively in your hands, looking off into nowhere and only showing that he was still more or less there with the occasional flick of the eye as whatever thoughts he had tumbled through his head. You were no better. You stared into the house uncomprehendingly, not too sure what to do next after the day you had. Were still having.

It was bizarre, how your mind tripped over the events like a scratched dvd trying to spit out visuals and audio that should have made a cohesive story, but only left glitched pictures and meaningless noises that didn't sync up. The riot, Delilah, that woman. Behind the safety of your door, everything seemed further away, like it happened weeks ago. Yet your fresh panic harshly reminded you that it had just happened, or was still going on for all you knew. Gods, was Delilah okay? You quickly shot a text her way telling her to call as soon as possible, all while trying to convince yourself that she would be fine. Your breathing stuttered as worry settled heavily over your tired frame, and you leaned back on the door to steady yourself. Slowly, you slid down to the floor, eyes closed as you fought against your labored breathing. Yes, you told yourself, with no hint of confidence. She was fine. You were fine. Jack was...

You peeked out from under your lashes and looked down at the quiet skeleton. He looked fine, physically, but you got to your feet anyways and went into the kitchen, setting him down on the table. Blinking, Jack looked around in a haze. He seemed to be coming back from where ever his thoughts had lead him to and looked up as you gazed down at him, searching him for injuries.

There were none.

The relief that washed over you was short-lived, and quickly drained away only to be replaced with hot, boiling anger.

"What the hell was that?" you hissed, hands placed firmly on the tabletop and head bowed as you bore your glare down on Jack. He flinched as he saw your eyes glint through the curtains of hair that fell over your face.

"what was what?" he couldn't help it; he bit back through his tone as he found a new focus for all the confusion for that night.

"That," a flash of white and blue ran through your head as you thought back to what he did back in the riot. "I told you not to do anything and-and you attack someone? Why?!"

He clenched his teeth and avoided your eyes. "no reason."

"Bullshit. Tell me." Your voice dipped even quieter, like the rasping hiss of a coiled snake. When he didn't answer you went on. "Who was she? Do you know her? Tell me."

"she's **nobody**." he scowled hatefully, arms crossed and stance rigid.

"Who-"

"h-how about what happened in the store, huh?" Jack shot a glare back. Daringly. Accusingly. "care to enlighten me 'bout that?"

You went rigid. The suddenness of your tension dulled some of his temper, and instead made him hold his breath with apprehension. It went on for an eternity, the only motion being the the vague impression of something flickering behind your eyes; just out of sight and completely unknown.

Then, you moved. Slowly. Leaning forward, your arms snaked around him. He shivered when the sound of your claws digging into the wood pierced the silence, but none of that could amount to the sudden nearness of your face.

" _Excuse me_?" Your words were no more than air sneaking past your exposed fangs. " _What was that_?"

He didn't say anything. He gave a quick glance at your pointed teeth before forcing himself to look back up.

" _Tell me who she is_."

Jack shuffled in place, eyes removed from your own once more.

"...reina. reina parkers."

A low rumble sounded in your throat. Whether it was out of annoyance, triumph, or encouragement, he couldn't tell.

"And?"

You kept digging, and he found his resolve slipping.

"she's...my human's mate." His eyes flicked once to you, but when nothing changed in your expression he continued. "well, ex-mate." probably, went the unspoken word. Did he break up with her after his disappearance? Did he even find out about what she did? He had no answer for that. The events from that day came to mind, and he remembered how he hadn't been home that day. He hadn't been home for a few days actually, having been out of town for a school project. They didn't allow pets to come along, of course, but unfortunately that included Bitties as well. So he had asked Reina to watch him in the meantime. And then she...

He heard you ask something, faintly, somewhere in the background to his thoughts. The whats, and whys, and hows. The Sansy closed his eyes and gave into your questioning.

He told you everything in a hushed whisper. Told you of his Human. Nicholas Arder, aged seventeen. About his adoption; the days they spent together; the jokes they shared together; the longs nights spent staying up late and the lazy mornings thereafter. He almost chuckled dryly a few times during his retelling, thoughts briefly flitting to recalled puns that they had swapped. But it soon slipped away when he begrudgingly recounted the time when Reina had entered the picture.

The time Reina had come into the equation, everything slowly started to unravel. Nich had been thoroughly swept off his feet by her sweet words and gestures, but he only got to see her at her best. Jack saw her at her worst. He always caught the smallest changes in her demeanor, or posture, or expression. Noted how she always sent a glare his way when Nich paid him some extra attention. The well hidden venom concealed in her voice whenever Nich needed to stay home to help Jack through one affliction or another, or just to care for him.

She especially despised it when he was brought along with them.

And it only escalated from there, to the point where, sometimes, even Nich would catch onto a bit of her abnormality, and the strain between the two of them. But it would pass, and she would get away with the changes she started making to his wardrobe, and the time she thieved away from his other relationships. Yet Jack was always there. How could he not be? He lived in Nich's room, after all. This fact made her blood boil more fiercely than before, and she finally got the chance to act on it when his Human needed her to look after him while he was gone.

He stopped when he felt himself start to choke up. Gods, he missed him _so much_...

The silence reigned over the household, and he couldn't bear to look up at you. To see whatever expression had crossed your face. What could you be thinking, knowing that he still wanted to return to Nich? That he still had a reason to leave. The tension that hung in the air was so thick that no knife could possible cut through it, and he nearly quaked under it's pressure. Hearing you inhale, as though to say something, made him tense up, but all that you could manage was a solemn "...Oh.", and then everything returned to it's dreadful silence.

That is, until your phone rang, making the both of you jump up with a frightful yelp.

"Sh-shit, what...?" you murmured, and he took a chance to peek up at you. You look baffled; frazzled. For some reason he was both surprised and whole-heartedly underwhelmed. The second you glanced at your phone, your eyes flashed with a dizzying mix of panic and relief as you scrambled to turn on your phone. "Delilah..." you whispered, frantic to take the call.

Before you could, you caught his eye. You both looked at each other for a mere second, a second spent quietly pondering of the other, before you slumped over and shuffled out of the kitchen and towards your room. He watched uncertainly as you answered the call and closed the door, unsure of whether to let you go or not, but you were already gone, and he was left standing in a daze on top of the worn out table top.

He looked around with an empty gaze before settling down on the table. His mind buzzed; not with thoughts, but with exhaustion. So tired was he that he could do no more than sit there and look off into something thousands of miles beyond the kitchen wall.

So that's exactly what he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Hope you liked the ch., though this was the first time writing events like these, so it'd be nice to hear some feedback about how it went. Was the pacing too fast or too slow? Was the dialogue cheesy, or too forced? Did I leave some questions unanswered that needed answering somewhere in there? I'm hoping that everything is clear but I can't help but think that there may be some parts that are a bit fuzzy, meh.  
> Asides from that, yay, Jack's backstory is revealed! *throws confetti* tho it is kinda sad I guess *sadly throws confetti*


	7. The After Effects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title says it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100 kudos  
> 1,000 hits  
> *melts into a happy puddle*  
> Wow, okay wow we got to that point already...wow ;O; woooaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  
> Thank you guys so much! I know everyone says that but really, thanks! You really didn't have to take the time to read this (even after seeing those tags and reading the weird title heheh- I'd be skeptical too) so it really means a lot to me that you did it anyways, and even found something in this fic that you enjoyed enough to kudo it, so once again- thank you!

Irritating. Persistent. Loud.

All these things described your phone right now as it shrieked for your attention from your bedside table. With a groan, you flipped over and buried your head into your pillows, clamping the soft material over your ears until the blaring noise finally stopped.

Only to hear it ring again. You nearly yelled at it to shut up and let you sleep in peace.

Okay, perhaps you were being a tad dramatic, but you didn't care. Not. One. Bit.

Not since you were having such a good night's sleep, even though only three days had passed since the shopping incident. After you spent the first night a sleepless, anxious mess, with the second night being just as bad, you didn't dare hope that the next night would be any better. But it was. Your bed was soft and plush, your dreams had been relaxing, and the bandage on your arm had finally stopped itching. Was it so wrong to want to completely obliterate whoever was trying to call you after such good luck?

And so early too, you realized, after you gave in, plucked the infernal device up and watched the time flash to life on the screen. Just under that was the caller's name, and the scowl slipped from your face as your sleep addled mind caught up with the present.

Judy Frantz.

Your Alpha.

All thoughts of obliteration fled you as you scrambled to accept her call.

"H-Hello Alpha! How are y-..."

You quieted down as she cut in, stifling a snort and smile at her way with words before turning serious again.

"What is it?"

At your inquiry, she filled you in on what's been going on since the riot took place three days ago. Since Humans were involved, police have been crawling all over the incident, trying to hold their influence over the situation while figuring out exactly what occurred. Though they were currently gone for the time being, as the Alphas had come together to take a hold of the situation. They had gathered to discuss the event and what would be done about it, but she didn't tell you any more than that. The reason for telling you all this was because outside the Alpha's meeting, each Alpha would then need to inform their own pack about it through their own gathering, and you were required to attend your pack's meeting per Judy's demand. After she was finished you both said your goodbyes and hung up.

So your suspicions were correct then. The Alphas really had gotten involved, though you wondered what they had agreed on. Was it really so important for every member of the packs to hear about it? It was just one riot after all, unless more has been happening that you weren't aware of...

With that dreadful thought in mind, you slipped out of bed, springs creaking as you pulled away from the warmth and comfort. You didn't bother getting dressed yet as you went out of your room. The kitchen greeted you with chilly tiles and a table free from skeletons. The small bit of hope that you'd see him there, like everything was normal, was quickly dashed away, yet at the same time you were relieved. Ever since, er, 'the scene' from three days ago neither of you had been open to any means of resolving it. You hadn't talked to him about it since, and Jack seemed inclined to stay silent on the issue as well. You had wished that the whole thing would fade away if you ignored it long enough, though each time you stumbled into each other the air would grow strained and heavy. At this point you weren't sure if you should keep waiting for it to vanish, or to confront him about it. You almost wanted to underneath your aversion to it. You had a question burning in your throat that was killing you to be answered, but each time you had the inkling of resolve to ask Jack about it, all thoughts on the possible answers he could give you extinguished it. Just thinking about it made you wonder again.

Did he want to leave?

This question formed after your 'scene' with him, but only grew more and more over the days following it. The Sansy always seemed forlorn, deep in thought with his brows scrunched up and eye-lights hazy. During the times when he wasn't like this, he was most often tapping away at your laptop. Once you had caught sight of what was on screen. Maps. They were maps, ones of your town if you were to go by the brief glimpse you had of it, and another one that seemed familiar. Surely this could only mean that he was trying to get back to his person. And if he chose that, then where did that leave you? It stung to think that your friend would leave you like that. Deep down it made sense. He was forced into this position and the way you two met hadn't been good to say the least, but near everything after that had been great! So why? Why this? Why you?

Were you really a bad friend and didn't know?

Did you not care for him properly?

Was he pretending this whole time because he was afra-?!

_Ping!_

You lift your head from the tabletop, where you had apparently been resting it. With bleary eyes you spotted the bland bowl of cereal, which had now turned soggy. It was nothing like the appetizing breakfasts you usually made, but recently you couldn't be bothered to make anything else. Letting out a sad breath you reached for your phone.

**Deli: Hey pal u get a call from alpha? Weave a meeting tmrrw and she wants everybody there :P**

**_ _ _ _ _: Yep, you going to show up?**

**Deli: Yeah of course! Y u thinking of ditching??**

Well, you were, but knowing that both Judy and Delilah would be on your case if you did was making you think otherwise.

**_ _ _ _ _: Nope. See you then**

**Deli: K then I'll hold u to it! ^3^**

As soon as you got the next text and read it, you returned to resting your head on the table and pretending that you don't have deliveries to make in the next ten minutes. You kept an ear open for the sound of tiny, clanky footsteps, but they didn't appear.

~

However, you did see Jack the next morning. It was sometime past seven and you were prepared to head out, when it occurred to you that this may be something that you need to tell him about. Even if you weren't particularly ready to breach the topic with him, you felt this was something he deserved to know.

"Hey." You murmured, almost shyly. After looking all over you had found him lounging behind the backrest of the couch.

"uh, hey?" he echoed, sitting up and straightening out his jacket. His new jacket, you couldn't help but think happily. Even after all that mess Delilah had still managed to grab the clothes you had originally went out to get in the first place. At least there was one good thing that happened on that day.

"I just wanted to let you know," you started, feeling a bit too much that you were improvising what you said for your liking. "that, uh, after what happened, the Alphas have convened to get a handle on the situation. They'll be discussing it in my pack soon so I'll be out of the house for...who knows how long. Things may change after that so I thought I'd give you a heads up."

He stared up at you with a blank look, processing what you said. "what? when? why didn't you tell me earlier?" It's hard to tell whether he was mad or just inquisitive, but the way he looked at you, as though he wanted to ask something else, made you a bit defensive.

"Well I was only told yesterday," _if you bothered to show up for breakfast then maybe you would've known then._ "and it starts at eight, so I got to get going soon."

"wait, but what'll be changing?"

You raised a brow. "How should I know?" when you got to the door you paused, conflicted. "It doesn't matter, this will still be your home if you want it to be."

You walked out without looking back at his reaction.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

As you waited for Delilah to arrive, you got a fresh look at your pack's building. It worked like a h.q. of sorts, but way more casual in your opinion. It proudly stood three stories tall and sat dead smack in the center of your pack's territory, surrounded by the homes and businesses of your pack-mates on all sides. The bottom layer of the building suggested that it was painfully bland once, but today it was covered in an assortment of decor. You easily spotted your Alpha's own contributions. The red paint and diamond motif on the main entrance easily pointed to her. You rolled your eyes at the plate of brownies set just outside the doors and looked elsewhere. The professionalism of your co-alpha popped out through the properly cared for lawn and overall tidiness of the house, but it was overlooked by the ridiculous animal skulls scattered around the perimeter. Your pretty sure they were placed there to look intimidating but it just makes it seem ridiculous.

There was more, from the wind chimes hanging over every window to the threatening poetry tacked onto places that looked like they were once destroyed and then repaired, but Delilah chose to pop up at that moment and tear your attention away from the building and back to the present.

"Ready?" she asked, sounding much more excited than you felt.

"Yeah, I- err..." you trail off when you get a good look at her hair. The bottom portion of it seemed to be dyed a very bright orange. It made you squint. "W-Wha...Delilah?"

Seeing what you were (trying to) peer at, she smirked and flipped her hair flirtatiously. "Hmm, do you like it?"

You snickered. "It's, uh, very you."

"Why thank you!" she took it for a compliment. As you two chattered, she opened the door and the both of you entered the building.

The first floor, you knew, didn't quite reflect the rest of the building in spirit. This was where everyone would be gathered soon, as the bottom level held all the rooms where anything even remotely official occurred. Basically it was mostly under the hold of your strict co-alpha, and the other two levels better reflected the crazy yet cozy manner that you knew to expect out of your pack. As such, it was rather bland and old fashioned.

You weren't even two steps into the hall before realizing that someone had appeared besides you.

"Glad to see you two could make it." he said. You had a hard time not jumping out of your skin at the sudden intrusion, and even Delilah jerked back with a start.

Oh, speak of the devil. It was your owlish co-alpha, Ned. He stood tall, thin frame engulfed by the thick set of wings tucked behind his back. That, coupled by the long fan-shaped tail made it seem like he was constantly robed.

Delilah greeted him like any other with a lung-bursting hug, and seeing his awkward discomfort made your lip twitch in amusement.

"W-Well then," he murmured and quickly scratched out something on the clipboard he clutched. "go on in. I'm quite certain that our Alpha would be pleased to see that your attending."

He drifted by silently to the entrance and left you two to moving to the end of the hall and into a smaller room. The right side would open up to where the assembly would be, and without further ado you both went in.

Instant noise welcomed you as dozens upon dozens of voices spoke out from the gathered crowd. It caused your duo to flinch, only to sheepishly wave away your knee-jerk reaction.

You vaguely recognized every face here, though there were a few others that you knew quite well. You may not spend as much time here as your best friend but that didn't mean that you weren't friends with your pack-mates. As you wondered around and paused to talk with a few of the people there, a heavy thud interrupted the peace and everyone turned to look at the door that was flung violently open. Through the entryway marched in a heavy-set woman, tall as a tower and thick as an ox. Or rather, an alligator, if one were to go by the leathery tail that stretched out behind her, the scaly nature of her red hair, or the obscene sharpness to her fangs and talons. On top of her muscle bound body she wore an army jacket, boots, and pants. Hiding tucked away in her breast pocket was the red queen of diamonds playing card.

" 'Eyyy, are all my fluff-butts actually 'ere?!"

She cackled gleefully and scanned the room with a pleased eye. Ned walked in behind her and tapped his clipboard.

"No, actually, there are a few missing from-"

"GREAT! Let's get started." she clapped her hands together and thudded through the crowd and over to the long table set up at the front, Ned hurrying after and sitting besides her. You, along with everyone else, took a seat at one of the many chairs placed in the room. A knowing smirk was shared between you and Delilah as your Alpha took center stage.

"Now I know ya'll know 'bout what 'appened a few days ago." she paused and looked around, and seeing that no one was saying otherwise, went on. "So I bet'cha also guessed that we'll be talkin' about those filthy bastards that attacked and what to do about it!" her fierce roar was joined in by many from the audience, Delilah being one of them.  
Seeing what turn the conference was taking, Ned politely stood and easily captured everyone's attention with the simple act. He delicately took hold of one paper from his clipboard, gave Judy a displeased glance, and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Yes, well...while we will be discussing what we plan to do in response to what happened at the shopping center, it would be best that we start at the beginning and talk about the Alphas' meeting, right Alpha?" he looked back to Judy with a confident expectation. She huffed, displeased, but otherwise allowed it and waved at him to continue. "Well, as we have all been informed of, a riot lead by Humans took place in town square just three days ago. Before we knew it, their police had arrived just as it was ending and started to take hold of the situation, as expected. We managed to evict them, but not before...before we found that there had been casualties. Four in total; two from both sides."

Not half a second passed before the room was filled with noise. People roared and howled, voices filled with hate, while others cried out with worry. Chairs were toppled to the ground as quite a few rocketed up to look wildly around for those they loved. Someone called out apprehensively for the names of those who died.

"N-Now, calm down! Calm down!" Ned screeched out over the crowd. Your eyes shot over to him, and it was only then that you realized that both you and Delilah had gotten caught up in the sudden mayhem as well. You forced yourself to take a deep breath and sit down, and were too bewildered to stop Delilah from gripping her chair so hard that it left marks behind. "Thankfully, no one from this pack was lost in the riot. One was from Rueban's; Denrick Len, and another from Victor's; Julie Robberts."

He waited patiently as everyone gradually quieted down. Judy seemed pissed, but somehow roped her aggression in and let Ned continue while she seethed in her spot.

"Now, after the incident, leaders from other packs called for assembly. It was while we were there that we learned that there have been more attacks in other territories, albeit smaller than what took place this week. In the last month alone there have been eight small-scale attacks spread out between seven territories, some of which have left behind serious damage and injuries. And that was only in the last month. This leads us to believe that there will be more in the future, and as such we will be working alongside them to assure that something worse doesn't happen."

Many quickly shouted out their distaste for this, and from besides you you heard Delilah curse. You weren't super enthused either, but more open to it than some others. You did deliver to other packs often enough after all, but you wondered if an interaction as large as this would be able to hold up well enough without crumbling to the ground.

Judy seemed like she couldn't keep quiet anymore, as she jumped up from her seat and slammed a fist down onto the table. "Which is why we'll be parting you pansies up into groups! First team will keep lookout along the ends of town 'n places where we think they'll target, 'n the second team will move in here an' train with me in prep for battle!"

Ned took hold again as he pulled out yet another sheet of paper. "No worries for second team, we'll help you set up here. Anyways, I'll be calling you out one by one for your new positions. Once we get that settled you'll be informed more about what this all means, and then we'll stop there." Some from the crowd complained, but otherwise seemed complacent at this news.

Your thoughts shot to Jack as you exchanged a panicked look to Delilah. What if you were chosen to stay here? What if you both were chosen to stay here, and you couldn't talk your way out of it? What would happen to Jack? Your friend glanced back and after a moment caught on to what you were thinking. With a gentle hand she reached over and patted your back reassuringly, but it didn't feel like it helped any.

As you wondered, you suddenly realized that there was one other place for him to go in this case, and it quickly left you chilled with a sense of loneliness. It was the same problem that has had you brought down for the past three days, but the more that things seemed to be tilting in his favor and not yours, the more it seemed to hurt.

Delilah tilted her head towards you, a question on the tip of her tongue right before her name was called.

"Delilah Jennings will be placed in our second team."

Faced with the distraction, she stood and you watched as she went over to where the others had gathered for that team, your own anxiety growing as you waited for your name to be called.

"Kenra Morgan......first team."

Sweat beaded on your brow.

"Patrick Huego......second team."

What if you had to give Jack up over this?

"Eugene Becker......second team."

It made you wonder if you were being selfish. You quickly dismissed the idea.

"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ..."

Suddenly, your name was called. A spike of fear dashed through your heart as you nervously waited with baited breath.

"...first team."

 _Oh thank fuck._ You breathed out in relief, and stood up to go over to where your team had went.

You hardly listened to Ned as he explained what you all would be doing, but managed to understand the basics. You'd still do your job, but now you'd be rescheduling some of your shifts to look out for any aggressive Humans prowling about. Mostly you were just happy that you hadn't needed to move over to h.q., even if only temporarily (well, for however long this whole fiasco would be lasting anyways). Not that you don't trust your pack-mates...but you don't trust them not to try to eat Jack, so bringing him along to live here would be a no-go.

Soon enough, the whole thing was, at long last, over. You immediately made to leave without any preamble. Very quickly did everything seem to weigh you down. First the riot, then the ongoing problem with Jack and the worry that he'd leave, and now this whole hellish meeting adding more to your plate. Your flame was flickering out rapidly and everything started to seem a little out of focus as you wandered out onto the streets.

"H-Hey, wait up!"

You turned to see Delilah dash out of the building fast enough to leave skid marks as she ran after you.

"Hey, you okay? You seemed like...like..." she made some nonsensical hand gesture, but you knew what she meant.

"Yeah, I'm fine." You turned to keep walking only to be interrupted.

"Psh, as if! Why won't you tell me what's wrong? We've only met up once since then and it just feels like your avoiding me or something..."

By this point you were feeling thoroughly exasperated, and that was putting it mildly. "It's only been three days Delilah. Three! I just- just need some time to myself okay?"  
Before she could counter with something, you hurried off and rounded the corner, mind buzzing with restless energy when all you really wanted right not was to not think about anything.

The pup watched you practically race away and considered going after you, but didn't. Instead, she turned to a new direction and headed that way, feeling that if she couldn't get answers from you, than she could get them from someone else.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Jack was stowed away in the guest bedroom, laptop propped up in front of his sitting form. His gaze flicked over the maps showed on screen, ghosting over the streets and roads that lay inbetween two different addresses. The light of the screen bore into his eyes and with an almost defeated sigh, he turned away from it, resting his weight on his knees as he felt torn on what he was to do. There was no realistic hope that he'd be able to make the trek from here to Nich's on his own. It was simply too far, and even then there would be many dangers waiting around every corner. He'd need your help, but what if you didn't give it to him?

He vaguely heard the click of the front door, but the heavy footsteps broke him from his daze. He felt a trickle of nervousness as they drew near. Would today be the day where either you or him breached this silence and finally asked each other about what was going on? Jack felt almost sure that this was the case when the door was pushed open, but didn't expect to see Delilah bounce in instead of you. Or the new crazy addition to her hair.

"Ah, so this is where you've been!" she exclaimed as she plopped down besides him, the large vibrations jarring to him.

"you've been looking for me?" he asked, confused.

"Hmmhm!" Delilah hummed sweetly and leaned over to look at the computer. She stared at it, puzzled, but as she looked longer the more her confusion seemed to melt away. "What'cha looking at here?"

"oh, uh..." he fidgeted, looking to the screen than back to the pup before heaving a breath. "just strolling through some maps, heh."

She gave a brief, mildly amused snort. "Trying to run away? Don't tell me that I've gotta track ya down again." she gave him a smile that seemed to stretch out over all her sharp teeth.

Heh, was it just him or did she move a bit closer then?

"look," Jack started, feeling mixed on telling her the same that he told you. A bit of hope rose in his soul, but exasperation and worry leaked in to twist it. "i know you two want me to stay, but i have a home. a real home. i have a different human i need to return to. you can't keep me here forever you know."

It was quiet for a moment, but sudden laughter made him flinch and twist around to where Delilah sat. Her mouth puffed out as she tried to bite down on her outburst, eyes sparkling with amusement, but something seemed off to him.

"Hahaheh..heh...hooo!" she rolled her eyes. "'you two'. I could care less whether you stayed or left munchkin."

"r-really?" he was a tad shocked. She had seemed so friendly, and to be honest rather naive. Where had this sudden looming intimidation come from? Or rather, what was he forgetting about her that explained this?

"Hah, yeah." she said, and almost like she had read his mind, prompted, "Did you already forget how you two met at that hunt?"

"hell no, i- wait..."

She smiled gleefully as the pieces fell into place.

"you were there too. you were the voice i heard then..."

The Sansy shivered at the undeniable implications of this, and wondered how he hadn't seen the glimmer of hunger in her gaze before.

"h-have you...have _they_...?"

Her playful grin shrunk a little. "We're getting off track here. Point is that they seem pretty down about this, and if you leaving isn't something they want, then that's the side I'll be on too, capiche?"

Jack wasn't sure how to respond to that. His voice caught in his throat under her pressuring leer and all the stresses that had been piled on him thus far. It was all too much and all he could offer in the end was a shaky nod.

"...Great!" she said, back to her jovial self when it seemed that he got her message. She stretched out her legs and hummed, seeming to think about something.

"They're not bad you know. They may have...but that doesn't mean they're bad, okay?"

"...yeah."

"Yeah!"

And with that she sprung up onto her feet. Jack fell back with a startled yelp as she went to leave, only to pause at the door one final time.

"Knowing them, it'll take a long time before they actually talk about this, if ever. So make sure to tell them about this if you do plan to leave, got it?"

"sure..."

She hummed in satisfaction and left him to consider everything she had said. And he did, but only after the shock of the whole thing started to fade away hours later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really...sure on how well this chapter came out, so any tips or comments regarding that would be welcome/helpful :3


	8. Nighttime Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These things are never easy to talk about, are they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what to say XD Sorry this is late! Again!! As you can probably imagine, it's the very end of the school year, so I've been swamped with last minute work and projects and exams and all that junk, but after all that I finally had some time to finish this freaking chapter (yay!!) so here it is! Hopefully you guys like it since it took as long as it did to come out, hehe ^^' Thanks for continuing to stick around and the increasing Kudos too ( 134 already?! holy cow where did u all come from?? ;O; )   
> Anyways, I won't keep you any longer, go ahead and read the chapter and feel free to tell me what you thought about it in the comments ;3;

The house felt tense when you returned. The moon had already risen high into the darkened sky, thin and claw-shaped, leaving little light for you to see by. The heavy air didn't surprise you, yet it felt a bit worse than usual. Almost like it was a rubber band being stretched to the breaking point. Or like the flash of lightning right before thunder shook.

Maybe you would've been more weary, or concerned, and try to seek it out to put an end to it, but you were much too exhausted for that. The past few days seemed never ending in their torment of you, and the stress of it all seemed not only to weigh down your muscles, but also seemed to seep into your bones, filling them with lead and leaving you trapped on the ground. The most lively thing you could manage right then and there was a breathy sigh and a tired shuffle as you went straight for your heavenly bedroom.

The only thing that made you pause in your quest for your bed was the sight of Jack peering out at you from the guest bedroom that Delilah sometimes took advantage of when she came over from time to time. He gripped the door frame with a hand and looked up at you with shadowed eye-sockets.

"Uh...hey." you said, trying for an easy-going smile. It probably looked more like a grimace though.

You watched as he stilled and returned your gaze, his eyes flickering with conflict. He seemed frozen in the moment, jaw twitching open and shut a few times. After a second of this you chuckled awkwardly and looked away.

"The, uh, meeting was...something...I'll tell you more about it in the morning?"

"oh, uh, sure."

"Okay."

He watched you a moment more, as you did with him. His eyes flicked over you, and even in your tired state you could feel that there was an unresolved tension in the air. Maybe even more than usual? Huh...well, seems like it won't be going away anytime soon, unfortunately. You would actually have to talk this out soon huh? Damn.

"Well, goodnight." you murmured before walking off into your room, thinking about when you could possibly bring up these subjects. When was the right time? Was there a right time?

"ah, wait..."

You turned and saw that he had taken a step out towards you, though went no further and only seemed more rigid with his movements than seconds prior. Eyes roving unsteadily, they finally settled back on you with a defeated look.

"...goodnight." he said, and though you waited, he offered nothing more.

Geez, you were too tired for this right now. You bade him a good night again before dragging your feet over to your bed, stripping down to your shirt and underwear and fell into the covers. Feeling your fatigued limbs sink into the mattress, you decided that you'd get your thoughts sorted out tomorrow and promptly fell asleep.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Turned out that you were spared from thinking about the Jack situation (for now...) because you didn't have the day off after that.

"How the hell...so fast...?"

You were currently looking at a schedule on your phone that had been sent to you from your co-alpha. The schedule that revolved around your assigned jobs from the meeting. The meeting from yesterday, mind you.

 _Did he stay up all night writing this? Why? ...Oh wait._ He was owlish, so that explained that. Yet there were so many of you anyways! He probably got help to make it if that was the case.

Not that it mattered, really. According to this, you had to keep watch over some streets that lead into your part of town, starting at half-past eight. That was fine. Totally fine. Not like you were still exhausted or anything and already had your other job to keep you occupied as well.

After all that happened the last thing you wanted was to be around Humans at the moment, but at least you would be at a distance and wouldn't have to interact. You just had to keep tabs on them, tell Ned and Alpha how many came in and how many left. That simple, you reminded yourself. Nothing your superb vision couldn't handle. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

Stretching, you meandered throughout your home, got dressed and served breakfast (while casting a lonely glance at the empty table top), grabbed your things and headed out. You gave a quick farewell into the seemingly empty house before closing the door behind you.

Twenty minutes later, you swept down from the air and alighted on a thick tree branch while the roar of cars came down and up the roads not too far away. You dug your claws into the bark and reported your arrival to Ned. He, as expected, replied immediately and even though he had already instructed everyone on what to do, he told you again before you started your shift. You rolled your eyes and settled in to begin counting all who entered or left the town.

"Hmmmhey."

The sudden voice made you jerk up in surprise and nearly drop your phone. Looking over, you saw another person nearby, winged like you and perched just a tad higher on a different tree. Seeing that their collar held the same red diamond as yours, you relaxed and grew curious.

"Are you keeping watch too?" you asked.

"Hmm, yep." he hummed quietly.

"Ah," you murmured thoughtfully. Why hadn't this been mentioned in the schedule? Maybe you over-looked it by mistake, it had been a tired morning after all. "How long have you been here?"

He cocked his head to the side and hummed again, something he seemed to do often. "Since four in the morning, just about."

"You nocturnal?"

"Naw."

You winced sympathetically. "That sucks."

"Eh." he shrugged, not moving to leave now that you were here. He tilted his head towards the roads before you could question it. "Should probs start looking, yeah?"

"Oh! Right, of course." you hurriedly turned away and fixed your gaze on the cars passing by and occasionally looking around for hitchhiking Humans or otherwise. You noticed that your acquaintance had yet to leave, the quiet between you two filled with the sound of pen against paper as he did something by himself.

"You like poetry?" he asked out of the blue.

"I...suppose so?" you replied.

"Hmm." he seemed disinterested and looked back to his paper. Normally you would've followed suit and turned away too, but kept staring at him. Something prodded at your mind, and you didn't know what it was until after you started speaking again.

"Hey..." you trailed off uncertainly. "Ah, nevermind."

He did the head-tilt again, eyes curious. "No, go on. What were you gonna say?"

"Ah, geez, uh..." you stalled for time as you got your thoughts in order. "What if..."

He faced himself towards you. "What if...?"

For some odd reason, you felt nervous as you asked. "What if you had something, something important, and..." your face scrunched up in thought. "and it really wasn't yours to begin with?"

"Uh, keep it?" he laughed, a brow raised in questioning at your weird inquiry.

"Oh."

His response left you unsatisfied, though you didn't know why. So you tried again.

"What if it wasn't a 'something'...but a some _one_?"

"Hmm, is that so?"

"Yeah. A someone who, uhh, originally..." you trailed off, mind too jumbled to let you speak coherently. You took a breath to still your worries before picking your question back up. "Someone who originally was from another place, and wanted to go back?"

"Huh, you mean someone from another pack?"

"Not exactly." you moved your gaze back to the cars, a little embarrassed at your lapse in attention, but still kept your ears open for his response.

"Eh, well, who ever this person is, then who cares? If you want them to stay then they should stay, right?"

"Oh...okay." you trailed off uncertainly. He glanced your way, but didn't question your response.

He may have answered, but you still felt like you hadn't been answered at all. It felt lackluster. Like a needle that missed the vein. You almost asked again, but closed your mouth and gave it up.

Every now and again you would notice the man giving you odd looks, probably because of your weird questions and lack of explanation, but eventually he refocused on what you assumed was his poetry and generally left you alone to count the Humans coming and going. While he was a bit bizarre and his advice...questionable, he was nice enough to tell you the number of Humans coming in or out that you missed while talking with him, and your first day keeping watch went by without any problems.

Even better is that most of those accounted for arriving into town had left before night, and those staying were being monitored for suspicious activity. So far no other attacks had been reported, big or small, and for a moment you felt a smidgen more relaxed than usual.

~

_They chase you unrelentingly, with glistening claws and slick fangs. Growls and purrs slip past their throats as they trap you, talons raised, hunger and lust shimmering in their heated eyes._

Sweat breaks out over your skin as the dark images flash in your mind. The covers go flying as you shift and twitch in your sleep, eyes flickering back and forth wildly.

_Just as they advance, you pass through the cold wall against your back and fall into a fierce crowd, filled with people with bared teeth and furrowed brows. Your pursuers face through the wall and follow you, but now they've shed their claws and teeth for baseball bats and wielded knives. They press in on your huddled form. The middle figure's body becomes more curved and feminine, and sharp, judging eyes look down at you from above._

Your soft, pleading whimpers went unheard. The blankets twist up under your tense grip as the nightmare plaguing your sleep played out in all its putrid glory.

_The crowd was faceless; black silhouettes with jagged edges, watching in the deafening silence as you lay helpless before the- the awful things leering over you. Slowly, the darkness seeped into their skinned, taking even the whites out of their eyes and turning them into beasts worse than the ones you saw day to day. They smiled wickedly, not out of any true joy, but out of the satisfaction of seeing your fear as their lips split over their crooked teeth and bloodied gums. It wasn't until you caved into the fright and gasped breathlessly, hand pressing desperately into the fabric of your shirt that they lunged without remorse, screeching demonically as you-_

-woke up with your own grating yell, sweat pouring down your skin and eyes blown wide. Your hand clutched at your chest in mock resemblance, and underneath your sticky shirt you could feel the harsh thumps of your heart.

Minutes felt like seconds as you sat there, trying to catch your breath. Your gaze flicked around your dark room uncertainly, and you jumped when a shadow shifted across the wall.

"Hehhh...hehh..." you laughed hoarsely, no humor in your scratchy breaths.

"Holy shit..." you whispered, but even that sounded much too loud in the silent room. Shivers danced across your chilled skin and without thinking, you pulled back the blankets and stood up. With glazed eyes you left your bedroom and went into the kitchen, automatically heading for the coffee maker before realizing that caffeine probably wasn't a good idea right now. You felt a little lost as you searched for something else to drink. Something warm to ease your nerves. You finally settled on heating up some milk to see if it would actually help, having never done it before, and sat down at the table and gave it a testing sip. Hmm...it wasn't too bad. Not anything special, but the plain taste and warmth was exactly what you needed right now.

As you sipped, you let your eyes slip shut, not too unsettled now that the light from the moon drifted in through the windows and softly lit up your surroundings.

"o-oh, you're awake too?" a familiar voice spoke out, startling you further awake. Standing on the table was Jack, bleary eyed but growing more alert as he matched your gaze. The shadows under his sockets were pronounced enough to see them even in this darkness.

"Oh, yeah. Why're you up so late?"

He shrugged, and sat down after a moment. "i dunno. same could be asked of you, ya know."

"Ah..." you stalled by sipping more milk, but after Jack raised a brow at your lack of an answer, you simply mumbled "Just had a bad night." and left it at that.  
He looked you up and down, and when you did nothing more than stay slumped over and sip quietly at your milk, he seemed to relax. At least he didn't seem as nervous as he had earlier.

"bad night, huh? ...nightmare?"

Jack startled when you choked a bit on your drink. You weren't expecting him to say that. How did he know? Was it when you yelled after waking? He would've had to be awake before then to have heard it though. Thinking this, you gave him a wondering look.

"Yes." you said slowly, brows furrowing. "You too?"

His eye lights wavered. "wanna talk about it?" he asked- or rather, deflected. It frustrated you that he didn't answer, but at least you could tell the answer from how obvious he was being.

The glare you sent him already told him what he thought of that. 'No' it was, then. He sighed.

"well, then how we talk about something else?"

Feeling what that 'something else' was, all you gave was another tired glare. 'No' again.

He wasn't sure whether to feel intimidated at the display or mad. As he looked back into your glare and felt no real threat behind it, the frustration hiding under the surface started to bubble up and push away the nerves he'd been feeling over the past few days. "lemme rephrase that then. we need to talk," he started, and the both of you knew that it wasn't just about the nightmare any longer. "and i would tack on 'sooner or later', but it's already been later."

You clenched tightly onto the cup, ready to deny him again, until you met his gaze. Sometime during his talk he had stood up again, back straight and eyes narrowed. Unlike earlier that day, he was completely serious and certain of what he was doing, and despite not wanting to, it made you remember how you thought that this needed to be done too, even if it was unwanted. Your grip relaxed, and taking another calming sip, you finally caved in and gave him a brief nod. Seeing his confused look, you clarified, "Okay. Let's talk."

He looked bewildered for a moment, obviously not expecting this outcome. Shakily, he cleared his throat and asked, "so, how about we start with the nightmare?"

You closed your eyes and threaded your fingers around the warm mug. You thought he'd get right to the point, but apparently not. He chose something harder to discuss. You released a quiet breath and tried to settle your nerves and organize your thoughts. It's only fair that I tell him, you thought, after all I did make him tell his story.

"...Remember when I told you about the gang that fought me and Delilah?"

His brow raised in questioning, but he nodded anyway. You took another calming breath.

"Well," you spoke, voice dropping to a murmur. "I didn't tell you about everything they did..."

You kept your eyes closed as you recounted the sharper details of your tale, occasionally pausing for a sip of milk, or to just sit and breathe out the tension. During these pauses, he didn't say a word, staying silent throughout the entire thing. The last pained word of what happened and what it had to do with your nightmare slipped past your lips quietly, and only after you took a last relaxing breath did you open your eyes.

The large, wavering eye lights caught you by surprise. The edges of his sockets shimmered with unshed tears, and his hands clamped down on the fabric of his jacket, twisting it between his phalanges.

"i-i...sorry, i didn't think that-"

"No, it's..." What? It's fine? It's okay? Neither seemed right, because right now neither or you seemed to be 'okay'. "it's whatever, don't worry about it."

"no, i shouldn't have...we don't have to keep talking if-" he started talking, but again you cut him off.

"No, we need to talk. Next question?"

He looked away, blinking heavily as he got himself together. For some reason you found yourself smiling at this, something about his sympathy striking you silly, and offered him your hand. He gave you a questioning look, but didn't take long to lean against your palm and allow you to give his head a few reassuring pats.

"You want to go back home." you spoke for him. His momentary shock at you knowing this quickly faded away.

"that obvious huh?"

You almost snickered. "Yeah, pretty obvious."

A brief silence passed, then-

"I'll take you back."

"w-wha...really?" Jack shot straight up against your palm, eyes wide as he started in disbelief.

"Hmhmm." you hummed and sipped the last of your drink. You didn't say anything else, and in his state Jack let his last question slip away from him. He wasn't sure if he wanted it answered after all, realizing that, even if you had done such things before, that you'd never do them to him. Despite your past, he knew you to be a good person, you just needed some help here and there along the way.

"thanks, that's...that's all i had to ask."

You hummed and leaned back in your seat, eyes finally betraying the sadness that you felt of his decision. "Okay. We'll figure out the best way to get you back tomorrow, then." He nodded in agreement.

He wondered what you would do when he was gone.

He wondered what he would do when you were gone.

He wondered why everything felt uncertain now, while his plan to go home was now certain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that that's finished, what did you think? Was it too expositiony, or was there too much dialogue? I'm trying to work on the way I write dialogue so if you want, tell me what you thought about it. Was it good or bad? Do you think there's something that could've been further explored or something that may have been overlooked? I want to improve these things so don't be shy in pointing it out ^^ And anything else too, really


	9. Going Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeeere chapter nine!!  
> Gotta give thanks to CallmeBooyah for bringing up the fact that there's simply not enough bird things (they prompted for some more detail on Reader's talons), so from now on there'll be more details here and there about the Reader's birdiness, so yay!! ;w; I hope you like how it turned out in this chapter, and if anyone wants anything specific to happen in regards to this feel free to leave it down into the comments :3  
> Anyway, I won't keep you any longer, on to the fic!

"So...you agreed to take him back?"

You breathed in the crisp winter air as a familiar voice greeted you. You didn't need to open your eyes to know that Delilah had just showed up, but you straightened up against the rough bark of the tree and turned your head towards her anyways, giving a curt nod.

She, oddly enough, seemed silent afterwards, as though thinking this over. This, in turn, gave you time to remember that today was indeed the day that you would be taking Jack back to his home. This thought, coupled with Delilah's unexpected silence, made your feathers bristle up, as though such things were threats to your wellbeing. Not for the first time that day, or the day previous if you were being honest, you wondered just why Jack's upcoming departure was affecting you so. Sure, you enjoyed his company, but this much? Though it wasn't exactly just company now, was it? No, it felt deeper than that. You hadn't been lying to yourself back when you wanted Jack as a member of your pack, and that wish only strengthened as time went on since then. When he left, you'd be losing a kinship with him that was nearly as genuine as Delilah's, and that pulled harshly at your heart.

"Is this...something you want? He's not _making_ you do this, right?"

Her voice, usually bright and cheery, seemed overshadowed by the same chill in the wind. You blinked your eyes open and saw Delilah peering at you with a slight twitch to her lip.  
"No, I- this is something I ought to do."

"Something you _want_ to do?" she immediately yipped. You breathed out a sigh and wished she would go back to being her typical bouncy self, wanting some kind of familiar reassurance.

"I, well...no, yet yes. No and yes, I suppose."

"So...yes then?" she ventured, and her persistence made you tired. You didn't want to think about it any longer.

"Ugh, yes Delilah. Yes." you bit back and made it known it your voice that you were done talking about it. She, thankfully, caught on and dropped it as well.

"Ah, okay then. Anyways!" Delilah started, and switched the topic over to the recent pack 'alliances' (actual communication and information sharing was enough to constitute an alliance, right? Huh...) and pack-given jobs that had the two of you on guard for any intruding Humans. She went on and on about her new training and all the new techniques she was learning, though most of it was complaining about how harsh and strict it was. Sometime during her semi-rant, a frigid wind blew past, and the ruffled pooch stole your wing and wrapped it around herself like a blanket. Oh, Delilah.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The rhythmic _tap-tap-tap_ of your claws against the cool porcelain mug filled the silence in your kitchen as you blandly waited for time to pass. Morning watch had passed, and the afternoon had slid in fast enough. The weird juxtaposition of time seeming to pass too slowly, yet all to quickly left you horribly antsy, and no matter what you did to occupy yourself, you always broke away from it and ended back up at the table, a warm cup of coffee in hand.

Jack teleported onto the tabletop as you stewed in thought, and feigned clearing his throat to get your attention.

"so," he started, sounding more comfortable since last night, yet still sheepish enough to keep from completely relaxing. "you said we would talk about getting me back home today, so...how about that?"

You smiled emptily. "We're going just before night." you said. When he gave you a look that said 'why then?', you went on and clarified, "It'd be too risky for me to show up in a human neighborhood in broad daylight. So we wait."

"oh, right." he murmured. You missed the worried look that he gave you afterwards.

"If you want to bring anything back with you, you should go get it now." you suggested. From the corner of your eye you saw Jack straighten up, and a moment later he muttered his realizations before 'porting away. In his absence, you deflated and raked your talons through your hair, then raised your drink up for a sip. Outside the window, the mocking reminder that was the sun blazed eternally in the sky.

Night couldn't come fast enough, and at the same time you willed it to never come at all.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

He stared at the old feather in his hands, reminiscing about when he first took shelter under this bookcase all those days ago.

Had he really been running _away_ from them? Huh. Funny. Now that he was here again, all he wanted to do was go back to them.

He shut his sockets tightly and slowly turned the feather over in his hands, fingers occasionally playing with the fine hairs along the stem.

Sure, things were rocky between them, and have been for a while now, yet in his Soul he could feel the undeniable force of a newly budding bond with them. Memories, good and bad, rose up to the forefront of his mind. Their initial meeting had been the hardest thing for him to overcome then, but seeing them change after they realized he wasn't prey, but a person, helped greatly. He wasn't sure if he really forgave them about it either way, yet he was willing to move on from it regardless.

From them on, he recalled how they had stepped back and began being so patient with him, letting him address them on his own time and still taking care of him during then as well. Sure, they the most experience Bitty caretaker, yet they did their best anyways, and researched more when they came across things they didn't know of. Even Nich hadn't done that.

A snickering laugh rose in his throat when he remembered greeting them home one day after their work, having taped a bunch of their feathers to his face to resemble a pair of bushy eyebrows and mustache. Their stupefied expression had been priceless.

The memories came and came, until they began to creep into darker territory, and he sighed and let them drift off.

He didn't want to leave, not necessarily, yet he had to. For Nicholas. For one of his Humans.

His mind stuttered at the thought, and he quickly corrected it. For his Human. As he thought it, his Soul gave a displeased lurch in his ribcage, making him grimace.  
Opening his eyes, he noted how dark it was becoming and forced himself to his feet.

"heh, can't be a _lazybones_ forever." he murmured to himself with a dry chuckle. Jack unzipped his hoodie to fit the feather inside, and away from sight. Just the thought of them seeing him bringing one of their feathers back with him made him blush sheepishly.

With that done, he shuffled out from under the bookcase and went off to gather his clothing.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

You stood besides the window, staring out through the frosty glass and up into the sky. The sun was sunk halfway below the horizon, and the moon could now be faintly seen amongst the encroaching dark. Any time you spent waiting now would just be stalling the inevitable.

There wasn't much prep work to do, really. All you needed was the map Jack had found, in case you needed to refer to it along the way, and one other thing, simple as that.

You held up the last item; a small pack with straps that clipped around your waist. You had found it laying around, and deemed it perfect for it's purpose. Fitting it snug around you, with the pouch resting against your back, you wondered how Jack would react to it all. On any other day, this would've made you smile, maybe even giddy, but you weren't feeling it now.

After you rolled up the printed map and stuck it snug in your pocket, you called for Jack.

The little pitter patters of his feet against the flooring made your heart pang sadly. Of all the things to start missing, you didn't think it would be such a trivial sound.

"ready." he said, appearing around the corner and into the kitchen where you waited. You kneeled down and took hold of the clothing he had to properly pack it away.

"i can, uh, take these with me, yeah?" he asked, gesturing to the clothes you bought for him. The question made you pause and look down at Jack with a somewhat amused expression.

"Sure? I mean, they are yours." you said, smirking and shaking your head at him good naturedly.

"uh, okay. good, heh." he smiled a little sadly and tugged lightly at his jacket.

"Is...this all you wanna take with you?" you looked around for more, frowning when he shook his head 'no'.

"no," he vocalized. "wasn't much else."

"Oh."

Did he really have so little here? The realization made you frown more, and the sudden need to spoil him rose up, only for you to push it back down. There wasn't anything you could do about that now, yet you kept thinking about it anyways.

"Well," you sighed and kneeled down. "we should get going."

You offered your hand, and he hopped on, holding your fingers as you stood back up. The familiar weight of the Sansy standing in your palm would also be missed.  
Going outside, you looked around on habit before walking further, towards the street.

"uh, how're we getting there?" Jack asked, casting a glance around. "don't you have a car?"

"Heh, no." you answered. "Wouldn't be worth having a car if it holds the risk of getting trashed, yeah?" you laughed.

"oh..." he trailed off, and you both thought back to the day not too long ago at the town square. A shiver passed through both your bodies at the fresh memories. His grip on your fingers tightened when he realized he would not be there with you if something like that happened again.

You smirked when he didn't follow up his question again, happy to leave the surprise there.

Speaking of which...

Now at the street, you stopped and shifted your hand around in front of you. Simultaneously, your other hand gripped the pack's strap and moved it around to your side.

"Umm..." he stuttered, watching as you brought him closer to the pack. Sweat beaded his brow.

"I need to put you in here before we can go, you'll see why soon." you teased.

He tensed, looking down into the pocket of space with small pinpricks in his sockets. At his hesitance, you paused.

"You okay?" you arched a brow, confused. He looked up at you, lights roaming your face, before he relaxed again.

"yeah, 'm good."

He moved forward carefully and slipped himself into the pack. Jack placed his hands on your fingers as you began to zip it up.

"could you keep it open a little?"

You almost rolled your eyes. That was your plan, after all. "Of course."

He smiled and took his hands back. "thanks."

As you moved out onto the road and swung the pack back around, you began to really feel the anticipation pulse through you. Up ahead, the moon shone brightly, and white wispy clouds strolled lazily past. The tips of your feathers quivered with the need to feel the cool night air pass through them, and you slowly spread them open.

"what...are you...?"

His words flew over your head as you began walking forward, and he must have finally connected the dots and let out a anxious yelp before burrowing deep into the pack. Your walk turned into a jog, and the jog into a run. The asphalt blurred under your pounding feet as you ran as fast as you could, and as the wind whipped past your racing form, you suddenly bent your legs down and shot off the ground.

For a brief moment, as your body tilted forward to accommodate your flight, your wing tips brushed the gravel before they flapped heftily, lifting you higher and higher. Within seconds, you arose above the roofs of the houses around you, and even quicker, with the cold air flowing under your wings and tail, they shrunk below you until they were no larger than ice cubes. The lowest clouds breezed by overhead, and at one point, one soft puff caught onto your feathers and made you leave behind a smoky white trail.

"oh my...oh my god."

This...this is what you were waiting for. Your face broke out into a large, doofy grin, glad that you were at least able to share this with him; glad that you could share your experience in flying, something that most others seemed to dream of constantly. To your joy, Jack seemed no different, if the awe in his voice was anything to go by.  
You felt him shift slightly, and you took a second to turn your head to see him. From the corner of your eye, you spotted Jack's head peeking out from within the pack, head trained up to the sky. His eyelights were nearly as large as the sockets that held them.

"the stars...they really seem much closer up here, much brighter...wow."

The stars, huh? You hadn't looked there yet, and seeing the wonder in his eyes, you brought yourself to peer upwards.

"Woah." you breathed out. Jack was right to be amazed. The clouds have since passed by, leaving the entire sky above you painted with a near endless black that stretched for miles before fading off into a deep blue. All over this expanse lay bright, twinkling stars, much clearer and more brilliant than you have ever seen them before.

"I should do this more often," you remarked quietly, not wanting to disrupt the calm by being too loud. "this is beautiful."

"yeah, it really is." Jack agreed in a hushed voice. The two of you remained silent as you both kept your gazes to the stars, only the soft flapping of your wings and the fluttering of the wind making any sound.

~

By the time you landed back down, the clouds had returned and hide the stars from sight, and the chill of night turned harsher, leaving you rubbing at your arms for warmth.

"Is that the right house?" you asked, peeking out from behind a tree you took for cover. Not like anyone could really see you in such darkness, but you didn't want to take any chances.

"yup, that's the one." Jack said, leaning forward in your cupped hands to squint at the shadowed structure.

"Ah, okay." you murmured, then went quiet. You shifted back and forth on your feet awkwardly. "So...where should I, uh, bring you to?"

"umm..." he moved closer to the edge, steading himself as he struggled to see. "thhhhere, right there. see that window?"

He pointed at something, and you followed it to see what he meant. A plain window, leading into what seemed to be a bedroom. "Yeah."

You shifted again, feeling stuck to your spot. Now that you were here, really _here_ , you felt the need to bring him back home so much more, yet at the same time you felt helpless to do so.

"So this is it, huh?" you laughed humorlessly, beginning to walk, or rather sneak, up to the window. You ducked down fully when you got there and leaned your back against the wall.

"yup. uhh..." he trailed off in thought. "you know, i...i know we didn't always get along, or have the greatest start, but for what it's worth, i'm glad you were the one to find me then. i'm glad that, uhh," he blushed, sweat on his brow, and turned his head away. "i'm glad that i got to meet you."

Your eyes widened at the unexpected show of affection, and you fought to keep your eyes on him. A weight settled over you, and with a dry swallow, you knew that you were about to go off and say something equally sappy before it even happened.

"I'm...I'm glad for that too," you sighed, a sad smile on your lips. "And I, uh, about all that stuff that happened, I'm sorry." you finally broke and turned your head away sheepishly. "I was...everything I did then was- if I could do back to change it I would. I was a real freak, huh?"

Jack scratched at his neck. "well, maybe, heh, but i don't think either of us really knew what to do..."

You shook your head. "Don't, just- I'm sorry, okay?"

"...okay." he sighed. He flicked his eyes up to the window.

"So, I guess this is goodbye then."

"yup."

Feeling the inevitable, you sat up, ready to lift him to the ledge.

"Farewell, then." you said simply, giving him one last smile as you brought him up.

"g'bye...maybe we'll see each other again?"

You plopped him down and felt your grin fade. You almost replied, but felt the words get caught in your throat when you looked at him. All you could manage was a shrug, and you saw the way his eyes flickered before you began going back. You heard him repeat his goodbye once more before were lost from his sight, hidden again behind the tree.  
From your spot, you watched, making sure that he got inside before heading back home.

Home...it felt weird calling it home, knowing that you'd be going back alone. You closed your eyes for a moment and just breathed. You would need a clear head for the flight back.

When you opened them again, you expected to see the window ledge empty, but Jack still stood outside the pane of glass. You furrowed your brow, wondering what the holdup was.

When another couple of minutes passed without him doing anything to get inside, you sensed that something was wrong. You waited one more minute, thinking you might be wrong, but when nothing changed you started to creep forward again.

"Jack?" you whispered. He didn't answer, so you moved closer and said his name again.

When you got close enough, you saw him clear as crystal, standing with his forehead pressed to the glass and tears trailing from his empty eyes.


	10. Finding Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter this time around, but I think it came out really well, so I hope you guys like it too ^^

He hadn't been expecting this to happen. This whole...heartfelt, goodbye business, yet it happened anyways. Somehow and without warning, Jack had found himself just below the window to his home, wrapped up in the tongue-tying agony of trying to say 'goodbye'. And he was the one to initiate it too! He hadn't meant to spill everything out like that, not really, only wanting to get it over with, like ripping off a bandaid. Yet, at the same time, he was relieved that he had said it. He was oddly satisfied, knowing that they knew how he felt, despite the awkward tension that cropped up because of it.

Yet that didn't make it any easier to take that step off of their palm, and onto the window ledge. He hadn't even known them all that long, he tried to convince himself, but his Soul was having none of it, thumping sadly with the loss of a newly budding bond between a Bitty and their person. Jack, in that moment, felt the temptation to turn back, to spend more time with them, to see where this bond with them lead them both, knowing that it would slip away soon after he returned home to Nich...but he couldn't.

So he stepped off.

A chill rose through his feet from the ledge, and he found himself turning around, feeling compelled to look back once more. The words slipped past his teeth before he even realized he had said them.

"g'bye...maybe we'll see each other again?"

The faint smile that you had sported before faded at the simple question. He watched, eyelights fuzzy, as you retracted your hand and began to back away, only able to give him an empty shrug. A fresh wave of longing went through him, but he squashed it down.

"oh...bye." he murmured, again, before he turned back to the window. Jack took a second to let his thoughts of them sink to the back of his mind, and instead focused on going forward, mind deliberately shifting over to how relieved he was to finally be back home.

From his spot outside, he could easily see into Nich's room, and he let his eyes roam over it all, the familiarity of it almost surreal. Everything was just the way it was, just as he remembered it. He looked down at the bed, set up below the window, the mint green blankets and plush white pillows rumpled and unkempt from where Nich had slept, and stepped ever closer. He lingered on the pillow where he would normally sleep besides him, and felt an itching in his bones that made him want to curl up on that spot immediately and forget about all his worries, while he listened to the scritching of Nich's pencil as he worked on homework, or the tapping of the keyboard as he used the computer, or something, anything. Did Nich still remember all the jokes that he told him? He hoped so, wanting to rattle them off like he did everyday, before he was cast outside by that bitch.

Man, if he ever saw her again, he had a few _bone-chilling_ things to say to her...

Jack shook those troubling thoughts away as he raised a hand, feeling it tingle with magic as he aligned his bone attacks under the window, starting to push the window open, before realizing that she might still be there. His Soul stilled, along with his magic. No, no, there was no way that she...

Was there?

Inside the room, the door creaked open, and Jack jumped, a sudden fear spiking up as he imagine _her_ walking through it.

But she didn't. Oh noooo; no she did not. Jack's face, previously apprehensive, slowly shifted into a large smile as he saw his Human walk through. The relief he felt before when he arrived here was nothing in comparison to the all encompassing joy he felt at seeing Nich, and he resteadied his magic and kept working to push up the window, eager to return to his side.

"Oh geez, hahahaha! Man, save a few of those for tomorrow, I bet all the guys will love it."

A smooth, youthful voice filtered through the growing space under the window. Broken pieces of a deeper, yet fainter sound barely managed to trickle out as well, and Jack paused and glanced up, wondering briefly who he seemed to be speaking with.

Through the frosty glass, he only saw Nich. Jack squinted, not seeing a phone or anything else he could be using to speak with another person, so who-

Nich moved over then, and gently placed something down on his desk by the far wall. And that's when Jack saw it, that it wasn't a some _thing_ he had placed down, but a some _one_.

The bones fizzled away quietly. All he could do was stare.

It, he, the other Bitty, was like a carbon-copy of himself. That same round skull, that wide smile, even the blue jacket.

It just...what? What was happening? Jack's hazy eyes stayed fixated on the other Sansy. He blinked, then rubbed his eyes. The Bitty was still there, eyes scrunched up happily as Nich laughed, probably at some joke he told.

It- it just- when had he started crying? A wetness slid down his cheeks, blurring the image of the other Sansy, and he didn't blink, refused to, letting his vision warp what he was seeing. As though that could change anything.

And then you were there, calling his name, voice tinged with concern and confusion. He didn't say anything, just stood there and vaguely saw you approach out of the corner of his eye, and heard a hissed breath escape you a moment later when you leaned up and peered carefully inside the house.

"Damn..."

He somehow tore his gaze away to look at you. You bit your lip, appearing conflicted and flicking your eyes over at him before going back to silently staring at the scene inside. A few wordless seconds passed, then he got up and went over to place a hand over your own balled up ones. They uncurled, letting him climb up and sit down in your palms.

"take me home." he whispered. You looked down at where he sat in your hands, eyes shimmering with unspoken emotions, and gently smoothed over his tears with a thumb as you turned away from the house, treading back into the short cluster of trees besides it.

A minute later, and you were in the sky, heading for home.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

By the time you got home, it was a little past eleven. Now it was midnight, and you were still sitting quietly in the living room, back pressed against the back of the couch, with Jack slumped over despondently on your lap. You kept a hand held against his side, feeling that he might just fall over if you moved it away.

Multiple times, you found yourself biting your own lip, trying and failing to discover the right set of words to make this all okay. You did it again, as you idly pet his skull with your thumb, trying to speak up about what happened, to ask about it, but you couldn't find the words. And every time you did so, your thoughts would take a tumble, and you'd suddenly start getting angry or frustrated or saddened at it all. You didn't even know the guy, but the way you saw how Jack got when he had talked about Nich, you knew that this Human meant a lot to Jack. You knew that there had been history there. You knew he held Nich in high regard. You knew how he had wanted to get back to him, despite the obstacles. So much so, that you were sure he would have attempted it on his own had you not helped him do so.

And then he goes and does this?

You sighed and curled your fingers a tad around Jack. It was after all that anger passed that you ended up feeling pissed at yourself, if only because the situation made you feel relieved, almost happy even. After all, he wasn't leaving now. You could still look forward to all the enjoyable moments you could spend with him. In a world where it was so hard to find genuine friendship, and where anyone could turn aggressive for any reason, it had been a breath of fresh air finding him. Though you were sure that you'd still like him even if that wasn't the case. You didn't want to feel any shred of happiness about this, especially when it affected Jack like this, yet you couldn't help it. You were happy that he was staying.

Though that didn't erase the cold tightness in your chest, seeing Jack so wrecked by it.

"why," he suddenly whispered, and you couldn't stop yourself from flinching, startled. "why did he replace me? didn't we- did i- was i not good enough? i thought we- i just...i don't understand why..."

Your feathers bristled as he spilled his inner feelings out, after so long of not making a sound, and the claws of your free hand dug into your leg at the verbal confirmation that this must have been what he had been burdened with for the past hour. You forced yourself to relax before you brought a finger under his chin and tilted his head up to look at you, yet you couldn't drive the fierce conviction from your eyes as your gazes locked.

"You did _nothing_ wrong." you said. "If your Alpha couldn't bother to wait, couldn't bother to search for you, and couldn't bother to value you, then that's _his_ loss, not yours."

A second passed before his eyes turned watery, and he moved to press his face into your shirt, a small shiver running through his bones. You cooed softly at him, then slowly eased yourself off the couch and freed your hands by moving your wings under Jack as a support instead, an idea coming to mind as you began to walk into the kitchen. From a cabinet, you took out a container, then placed a pot of water on the stove to boil. In the midst of this, Jack peeked up at you questioningly, but you didn't say anything, choosing instead to grab all the blankets and pillows you could from the living room before heading down the hall, and out to the backyard of the house.

Once outside, you set the blankets and pillows down onto the grass, shifting them around to your liking before carefully placing Jack onto it. The soft rolls of the comforter nearly engulfed him, and seeing him struggle to sit upright was almost enough to make you laugh.

You left for a moment, then returned with a few bundles of wood. Jack stopped sniffling to give you a baffled look. Then he saw the fireplace. You placed the wood in the pit, then fiddled with a lighter until you had a small flame going.

"Stay here a moment." you said, then went back inside. Jack waited, tugging a fold of the blanket around himself while the warmth of the ever growing fire soaked into his bones. He tilted his head back when you returned, then looked to the small shot glass placed in front of him.

"Here, I, uh, hope you like it." you murmured, taking a sip from your own mug.

Jack hefted the glass up into his arms, thinking it was coffee by how dark the liquid was before his took a gulp. The sweet taste of chocolate passed over his tongue instead.

"it's hot cocoa...?"

"Yup," you said. "do you not like it?" you asked, looking a little worried and uncertain.

"no, it's great. uh, thanks for making it." he hummed and took another drink from the glass.

"No problem." you replied. The two of you stayed that way for a while, watching the fire spread from log to log as the orange flames flickered ever higher, and as more stars appeared all across the dark sky. You closed your eyes and sipped from your near empty mug.

"It's not your fault, you know."

You peeked out with one eye at Jack. He sat still and hummed tiredly.

You sighed, feeling the exhaustion set in yourself. Your wings and chest felt especially sore after the workout you had from today, and so you laid down, stretching out over the soft blankets and briefly wiggled your toes against the heat from the fireplace. Without much thought, you reached over and plucked Jack up from his spot, only to place him down on your chest.

"huh, wha?" he asked groggily.

"Shhhh." you shushed him. To your mild surprise, he did stay quiet after that, and even laid down soon after as well. While you kept your eyes shut and basked in the silence of the night and the heat of the flames, Jack turned his eyes back to the stars and took comfort from the warmth you gave off. Just as he felt his mind turn hazy with sleep, he heard a faint humming. A sweet tune wafted through the air as soft vibrations rolled through your chest underneath him. Jack was on the verge of sleep, but kept awake long enough to hear some of the lyrics that accompanied the melody.

" _Don't let them take you down...take your heart away..._  
_Don't let them take you down...take your love away..._ "

He felt your chest rise and fall with your breathing, and it lulled him further.

" _And when the world pushes you down you gotta get back up...And when the world comes crashing down you gotta hold your ground...you gotta hold your ground...you gotta hold your ground..._ "

He closed his eyes and began fading out.

" _Don't let them take you down...take your heart away..._  
_Don't let them take you down...take your heart away..._ "

The lyrics rang in his head, and when he slept, echoed in his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song used in this chapter is [Brave](https://genius.com/Amarante-brave-lyrics) by Amarante


	11. Extra Chapter: Muse's Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember the Baby Blue from the first chapter?  
> Yeah. That.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an extra chapter, so you guys don't have to read it to understand what's happening in the main story line if you don't want to, but I thought it would be neat to write it and have been thinking about it for a while now, so...here it is ;3;

Today was his most favorite day ever, and he would never forget it!

He had imagined this happening thousands of times over, for as long as he had lived in the Bitty adoption center. Over and over, he had seen strangers and friends alike be chosen out by many nice looking Humans, all of whom seemed to fit their Bitty perfectly in all regards! He had yet to find his perfect Human, but even as the many days passed without so much as a hint that he would be chosen, he kept up his hope and never stopped looking forward to that day when they would arrive.

Maybe they would be a magnificent cook! Imagine if such a person picked him out, sweeping him up in their hands and whisking him back to an amazing restaurant where he would help them prepare the dishes! He'd surely become a favorite among the customers in no time!

OR! Or...what if they were an athlete?! They could go running everyday, exploring new places around their home and even helping to save all those kittens in trees, just like he's seen so many times on those t.v. shows!

Or maybe they-

The bell rang as new people walked into the store, and the sound shook the Baby Blue out of his daydreams. His eyes turned starry as the new Humans began walking around with a curious glint in their eyes, and he ran up to the edge of the large enclosure, pressing his face flat against the glass as he stared out at them.

Well, they sure looked...ordinary! But that was okay with him, he already was very excited that, just maybe, one of them would take an interest in him. He watched as one young female came nearer, and he bounced on the tips of his toes, ready to greet her before she passed him by and walked to the other end of the enclosure. Oh...well, perhaps next time!

As more and more people passed him by, he eventually stopped rocking on the heels of his feet and settled back to watch. He began wondering what their stories were, and what his would be if he was picked by one of them.

"Hmm, so I would recommend a Lil bro, a Sansy, a Poppy, a teacup, a G, a Ray, or a Punny for your daughter."

The Baby Blue peered up to see one of the store workers leading a couple around, listing off Bitty types with ease while the two looked on, looking lost.

"Oh...that's, uh, a lot, uhh..." The man turned towards his wife, seeking guidance.

"Isn't there some way to narrow down the options?" the woman asked hopefully.

"Well, there's usually only one way to find out who's the perfect fit, and that's to talk to them," the worker said.

"Well, if that's the only way..." the woman said. She gave one last glance at the worker before awkwardly climbing over the glass wall, her husband following behind her.

"I hope we don't make a bad choice," the man fretted. "I just wish she could be here for this..."

The lady sighed heavily, saying nothing.

"HELLO THERE!" the Baby Blue greeted, rushing over to the couple and posing at their feet. "I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE THAT YOU NEED SOME HELP, AND WHO BETTER TO AIDE THOSE IN NEED THAN I, THE MAGNIFICENT BABY BLUE!"

"Oh? Well, aren't you a little cutie!" the woman cooed, kneeling down to get a closer look while the Baby Blue smiled and puffed out his chest.

"Is this one of the ones that guy mentioned?" the man asked, turning to his wife.

"I, uh, well..." she trailed off and giggled a little. "I'm not sure, I only remember the Lil bro and the Sansy."

The Baby Blue looked up at them and placed his hands firmly on his hips. "WELL FEAR NOT! I CAN HELP YOU FIND THE PERFECT BITTY!"

"You could?" the man asked, now bending down alongside his wife."We're looking for a companion for our daughter..." His friendly smile slipped. "She could really use someone to make her happy right now."

"WELL IN THAT CASE," the Bitty said, launching into action. "THEN THAT MAN WAS WRONG! LIL BROS AND SANSIES WILL DRIVE HER CRAZY WITH THEIR ATROCIOUS PUNNERY! LUCKY FOR YOU THAT YOU HAVE ME TO SHOW YOU AROUND!"

With that, he dramatically pointed outwards and started to lead them off. The couple exchanged a baffled, if not amused look, and allowed the Baby Blue to drag them around.

"THIS IS SLEEPY!" The Baby Blue hefted up a slumbering Bitty and held him up for the two to see. "HE'S REAL FUN AND LET'S ME TAKE HIM ALL OVER THE STORE!"

"Uh...hi?" the man said, brow arched.

The Softbones slept on.

"Umm...honey, I think we're looking for someone more-"

"OH, YOU WISH TO SEE HONEY?" The Baby Blue placed his friend back down as the two jumped, startled. "WELL, HE USUALLY HANGS OUT OVER HERE!"

He suddenly ran off, leaving the confused couple to trail after. He came to a stop besides a large teddy bear, one of the many soft items placed around the area, and eagerly tugged a Lil bro onto his feet.

The Baby Blue leaned towards the other and tried to whisper. "Now Honey, I'm Putting In A Good Word For You So Don't Scare Them Off With Puns Okay?!"

The Lil Bro winked. "i dunno 'bout that, sounds like an ulna-chievable task to me."

"HONEY! NO!"

The man laughed. "Got some good jokes up your sleeve, huh?"

"it'd be a fibula if i said no, heheh."

After that, the Lil bro and the couple spent some time hashing it out with each other, and for a moment it seemed like they had found their match. That was, before the Bitty plucked out a small cigarette and lit up. The two exchanged looks, obviously displeased.

"Well Honey," the woman started. "While I've really enjoyed your company, I think we're looking for someone else to be friends with our daughter."

"hmm." Honey looked down and breathed in more from his cig. "makes sense. see ya later then."

He vanished, making the two startle, and the Baby Blue slumped over slightly.

"Well, I Did Warn Him," the Bitty sighed. "WELL, HOW ABOUT NEXT WE VISIT ONE OF THE CHERRIES?"

They carried on like this for a good portion of the next hour, yet each Bitty they met seemed to always, one way or another, strike the wrong cord with the couple. They all came to a stop when the two sat down and leaned against a wall, rather tired from walking all over the shop and talking with so many of the Bitties there.

"WHY ARE WE STOPPING? WE STILL HAVE YET TO FIND YOU THE PERFECT COMPANION!"

"Blue hun, I just don't know," the woman sighed. "we've been at this for a while now and it seems unlikely that we'll find someone..."

The man sat up straight, looking back and forth from his wife to the Baby Blue. "Well..."

The woman blinked. "What is it?"

He turned back to the Baby Blue, smile widening as his wife's eyes shimmered with realization. "Maybe the answer has been under out noses this whole time."  
The Baby Blue looked up at the two, eyelights bright with wonder.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The Bitty hurriedly whipped the tears out of his eyes, and his grin grew wider as he pointed forward urgently. "ONWARD!"

The man laughed, keeping a firm hand around the hyper Bitty to keep him from falling somewhere in the car, as his wife drove and fretted.

"If your sure, though I do believe we've told you everything about her...are you sure you can handle it?"

She spared a second to look his way, right as he dragged his sleeve across his face and bit back his sniffling.

"ONWARDS TO THE HUMAN ABIGAIL!"

"But are you _certain_ -"

"ONWARDS!"

"Hahaha, I think he knows what he wants," the man chuckled, looking much more relaxed now that they were out of the store.

"Hmm, well, I can't argue against that." She allowed herself to laugh a bit alongside her husband, though it quickly died off as they pulled into the parking lot of a hospital. It had only taken them about ten minutes to arrive there, and they quickly eased themselves into a space. The Baby Blue stopped bouncing in place to peer up at the large white building with awe, seeing it loom far up into the sky like an icy mountain. He had heard of these before, and knew that it was where the sick Humans went to get cured, yet had never seen one in person up until this point, and to say that he was a little cowed under it's large stature and rigid composure would be an understatement. Just the appearance made him shiver, but he braved through it in his eagerness to see his new Human.

The lady looked to him again, but didn't ask again if he wanted to reconsider. If all the previous declines hadn't made it obvious, then the way he stared at the hospital with a fire alight in his eyes and bones made it clear as day.

"ONWARDS, TO ABIGAIL!" he shouted, placing a booted foot onto the man's thumb as he pointed ahead.

The two looked at each other and smiled, really starting to see now that maybe this plan of theirs would work without any setbacks, that maybe this Bitty would really be able to cheer up their sweet Abigail while being able to handle the load of her situation at the same time. With the Baby Blue's enthusiasm infecting them, they set off into the hospital, walking past the main entrance and all the people there as they made their way to Abigail's room.

Arriving there, the man paused to cup the Bitty in his hands, effectively cutting him off from view, and made a shushing motion to the small skeleton, an almost giddy look on his face as he looked back up and walked into the room besides his wife.

From between his fingers, the Baby Blue peeked out and glanced around. Unlike the stark white glare most of the hospital seemed to be drowned in, this room felt like it was trying to seem more lively, colored with a soft pastel green and decorated with balloons of various shapes and colors while stuffed animals lay around near the bed, yet the air was still tainted with the far off scent of sharp chemicals, the unnatural lighting still shone too brightly, and the 'cheer' of it all was too deliberate; too insincere.

And in the middle of it all was Abigail.

She lay there on the bed, dark skin paled with sickness. Her hair was thin, too thin to be natural, yet as the Baby Blue looked at her he could see the unspoken spirit in her eyes, the childlike liveliness that flickered and burned passionately. Abigail looked up as her parents entered the room and immediately smiled, shifting to sit up just a bit straighter as they neared.

"Hey Mom, Dad!" Her voice was bright, if not a tad forced. She brought her gaze over to her father's cupped hands, expression curious.

"Good evening honey," her mother said, stepping closer. She exchanged an excited, hopeful look with her husband as he stepped up besides her, bringing his hands closer but being careful to prolong the surprise as Abigail leaned in to see.

"Hi Abby, uh, me and your mother have a surprise for you!" he exclaimed, raising his hands higher. Abigail gasped and sat forward, her hands slapping down in front of her and pawing at the blankets in her excitement.

The mother moved to sit on the side of the bed, briefly leaning in to place a kiss on Abigail's head. "Sweetie, we got you a...surprise gift, we hope that he can liven this place up and make you happier, we know that it can be a little lonely here."

Abigail inhaled sharply, eyes dazzling. "WOAH REALLY?! What is- wait...'he'?"

The couple looked at each other knowingly, and then the father finally revealed what he was holding to his daughter.

The Baby Blue stood upright fully now, quickly flashing his most inspiring pose. "HELLO HUMAN ABIGAIL! I'M SO HAPPY TO FINALLY MEET YOU!"

A second passed. Then two. Then-

"AHHHH WHAT?! HE'S SO CUTE AND COOL AND WHAAAATTT?!?"

He was snatched up and brought into a fierce hug faster than even he could register.

"OHHH I love him so much already!" she laughed, finally bringing him down a bit to properly look at him. For a moment, her parent's were worried that the sparkles coming from both their eyes would blind the other. Her gaze softened some, and she leaned back and pat the little skeleton on the head as his skull flushed a bright blue.

"Y-You Think I'm Cute And Cool?" he sputtered, wide eyed. "U-UH, WELL OF COURSE YOU DO! MWEHEHE!"

"Ohh, honey," the mother cooed, smiling as she leaned in for a hug. "We're so happy that you two are getting along so well."

"Yeah," the father agreed, joining in on the sudden group hug. "Whenever you're feeling lonely, now you have a new friend to talk to! Isn't that great sweetie?"

Abigail returned their affections, and brought the Baby Blue into it as well, looking around at all of them with grateful tears beading up in her eyes.

"Really?" she whispered, awed.

The Bitty grinned widely and moved in to hug her nose. She giggled and furrowed deeper into the arms of her parents.

"OF COURSE HUMAN ABIGAIL! FROM HERE FORTH, I, THE MAGNIFICENT BABY BLUE, WILL ALWAYS BE HERE FOR YOU!"

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

'HUMAN ABIGAIL, WHAT IS IT THAT YOU SEEM TO BE LOOKING AT?"

Currently, it was morning, and the curtains to the windows were open. The Baby Blue stood on the ledge peered through the window to the outside, his forehead pressed firmly against the glass and his hands raised above his eyes to shield out the light.

From behind him, he heard Abigail giggle weakly. "N-Nothing, phhahaha."

He turned to her and stomped his foot. "NOOOO, TELL ME!"

"Nope!" She turned her head to the side, smirking, before looking back to the notepad in her lap.

"HMPH! SO BE IT THEN. THOUGH YOU MIGHT AS WELL TELL ME, SINCE I WILL BE FINDING IT EITHER WAY!"

He waited a moment and peeked at her from the corner of his eye, but when it was evident that she wasn't giving it up, huffed and went back to searching through the window. It that wasn't frustrating enough, then the fact that she seemed to be looking somewhere else whenever he moved was the worst! He always felt like the thing she was observing was right over his shoulder each time too, yet he could never seem to find it...

Meanwhile, Abigail chuckled at the Bitty's antics as she turned back to her drawings. The pencil in her hand scratched at the paper, adding more lines to the sketch of the heroically posing Baby Blue that lay on the paper. She drew out another part of it before pausing and frowning, then glanced back to the Bitty for reference. Noticing this but not quite realizing that the thing she was looking at was _him_ , he gave another dramatic huff and stomped around on the window sill.

"I FEEL LIKE I AM VERY CLOSE TO DISCOVERING IT!" he said, walking back and forth across the ledge. "YES, ANY SECOND NOW...YOU MAY AS WELL JUST GIVE UP NOW AND REVEAL YOUR SECRETS YOURSELF!"

Abigail rolled her eyes, amused. "Oh muse..."

"HMM? WHAT WAS THAT?" He turned away from the window to face his Human.

"Oh, uh," Abigail paused, shifting her paper around a bit. "I called you muse...?"

"OHHH..." A second passed, and then his eyes lit up and shifted into stars. "WAIT, IS THAT A NAME? FOR ME?!"

"Um, oh...OHHH" Abigail suddenly smiled widely and frantically nodded her head. "Yeah! That's a great name! What do you think?"

"I LOVE IT!" the newly named Muse proclaimed. A moment later, however, his face twisted in question. "BUT, UH, WHY?"

"Ah, well..." she started, still smiling as she gestured him over. Muse climbed down from the ledge by skirting down the curtains, then dashed across the tiled floor and clambered quickly onto the bed besides Abigail. As he plopped down besides her, she turned the sketching towards him.

"W-WOWZA!" Muse scooched closer until he was able to reach up and touch the paper. "IS THIS ME? THIS IS VERY GO- WAIT, YOU WERE LOOKING AT ME THIS WHOLE TIME WEREN'T YOU?!"

"Maaayybbeee," she giggled at Muse's mock-outraged face. She pouted right back at him, then began to sketch again as Muse dissolved into laughter. "You make a really cool, umm, model though! I couldn't help it!"

"WHY, THANK YOU- OH, WAIT WAIT WAIT!"

Abigail stopped as Muse shot up from his seat, only to go over and stand on the head of the bed, striking a pose.

"OKAY, YOU MAY BEGIN NOW!"

"Hahahaha, o-oh my god Muse!" Abigail heaved, flipping to a clean page and drawing out the new picture. As soon as she finished, she turned it around to show him, and Muse gave her a double thumbs up as his eyes turned to sparkles again. After that, she poised her pencil over a clean section and looked expectantly to Muse, who lit up and bounded back to position, now bracing his hands on his hips as Abigail began again.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
Muse was worried.

Abigail had seemed so upbeat two days ago, and he still recalled the drawing session with great happiness, yet when he woke up today he found something else. There were deeper shadows on her face, under her eyes and sharpening her features, casting a ghostly aura over her. She lay huddled under the thick blankets, eye lids heavy and limbs leaden. Muse shivered and quickly scampered up onto the bed, hearing her faint raspy breaths as he neared. He recalled her being in a similar state yesterday, though not as dire as now. Nothing about this felt right, and it struck an odd cord in his soul. His thought trailed back to when his Human's parents filled him in on Abigail's condition, and it only made his more fearful of what could be happening right now.

She was in the hospital for a reason, after all.

"AB...Abigail?"

He moved in and gently poked her cheek until her eyes fluttered open. He almost sighed in relief, but the exhaustion in her eyes made his breath catch uncomfortably in his ribcage.

"Oh...g'morning Muse," she breathed, bringing her hands around and snuggling Muse closer.

Despite liking the comfort, he struggled out of her grasp and moved back up to her face, patting her cheeks. "Are You Okay? What Happened? Why Are You Suddenly..."

Abigail sighed, sagging deeper into the bed. "I'm just feeling sleepy Muse..."

She closed her eyes and tried to snuggle Muse in to her again, but he wasn't done worrying yet. Instead, he ducked away again, bones starting to clack fearfully.

"S-SLEEPY?! BU-But Why?"

"Hmm...no taaaalking now Muse, too tired, just cuddles now," she murmured faintly.

"NO, ABBY, Y-YOU CAN'T-PLEASE DON'T FALL DOWN!" he began shouting again, fearing the worst. "I CAN- I'LL GET HELP!"

As soon as Abigail's tired mind finally registered what he said and the tone of his voice, he was already racing out of the room, tiny bony feet clacking on the tiled floor.  
Moments later, a nurse busted in, a teary-eyed Muse urging them into action as he blubbered half spoken words.

"What's wrong? Where are you hurt?"

Abigail, baffled and still tired, could only stare silently as the nurse walked over hurriedly. They placed Muse back down, who quickly ran back to Abigail as the nurse looked her over and slowly relaxed.

"It seems there's not _that bad_ of an emergency here...?" they said, looking back to Muse with an inquisitive eye.

Abigail seemed to find her voice again. "Oh, uh, I'm fine! I'm sorry! I just- Muse freaked out and I don't know why...haha," she trailed off with a sheepish laugh while bringing said Bitty onto her lap and trying to calm him by petting his skull.

"Hmm, weird that he would flip out for no reason, sure you're fine?" the nurse asked, feeling uncertain that that was the case after hearing Muse's ear-shattering pleas.

"IT'S NOT FOR NOTHING!" he cried. He glanced worriedly back to Abigail when she slumped back down into the bed, growing more worn out from the interactions. "JUST LOOK AT HER! WHAT IF SHE'S FALLING ALREADY?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HEAL HER!"

"Oh, is that what you're worried about?" the nurse chuckled, which made muse bristle and tear up further.

"Falling?" Abigail asked, looking between Muse and the nurse.

The nurse sighed, feeling they had to explain, and pulled up a chair to sit in. "Falling is a condition where a monster loses Hope, becomes listless, and eventually...er," The nurse rubbed at their face. "well, you know- BUT!" they suddenly exclaimed, seeing Muse ready to start up again. "it's not something that happens to Humans."

"W-WHA...REALLY?!" Muse leaned forward, gaze fixed on the nurse.

"Heheh...really, little guy."

The news sunk in quickly, and when it did, Muse turned and launched himself into Abigail's arms, fiercely nuzzling his head against her. "OH ABBY! I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE OKAY! BUT...But Then Why Are You So Tired Then?"

"Try not to worry to much about it little guy, it's expected that she should be tired."

"OH, WELL THAT'S AWFUL!" Muse resorted to hugging Abigail more tightly, finding the thought that his normally lively Human would be dragged down so easily quite terrible.

"It's okay Muse...I'm just glad you're here." She returned his hug, albeit without the same zeal.

"ME TOO!"

The nurse smiled at the heartwarming scene, and hesitantly moved to stand up. "Well, if that's all settled then I'll just-"

"YOU SHOULD GET YOUR REST THEN ABBY!" Muse exclaimed, not having heard the nurse speak. "MEANWHILE, I KNOW EXACTLY THE SORT OF THING THAT WILL GET YOUR ENERGY BACK UP!"

The nurse balked when the Baby Blue leapt into action, rapidly scaling down the bed and dashing for the doorway with a jaunty pop in his step.

"DELICIOUS, WHOLESOME FOODS, MADE BY YOURS TRULY! FRET NOT ABBY, FOR I WILL BE BACK SOON WITH THE BEST DISH YOU'VE EVER TASTED!"

And then he was out the door. The sounds of startled shouts and yelps from the other hospital goers rose up to fill the silence. By the third metallic crashing noise, the nurse had finally roused himself and ran out after Muse, eyes bulging and bewildered.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Muse continued watching outside the window, a new habit of his, and since his initial scare for Abigail's safety he had seen nearly a week of colorful sunrises and sunsets. Yet while he gazed out at the sunrises with awe, each sunset brought with it the need to turn back and check up on his Human, even if it logically made sense that she would be fine despite his sudden worries.

And he did have worries. He quickly discovered that the first day, his first impressions of an energetic Abby, was a bit of a rarity. Yes, each day it seemed that Abigail tried her best to stay lively, either that or it was just her natural self to be that way, but most days she was tired.

Or fully exhausted. The silent days where all she did was slept were the worst, as the sharp beeping of the machines in the background became all the more apparent and blatant. All the equipment, the wires snaking around the bed, the iv's poked into Abby's wrist, they all stood out in contrast when these silent days came.

Muse did his best to keep up a happy atmosphere during these times. He encouraged Abby to draw when she was up for the challenge, and he was always up for posing for her too, joyous to see her drawn characters doing the same thing he had done. Sometimes they just read together, or watched shows from the small t.v. hung up in the room. He even, occasionally, whenever he had the chance to get his energy out by running amok, would sleep in with her too, since it always made her look better when he did.

Yet sometimes none of these were options, and he had to let her be. He hated those times, but came to understand that it was necessary.

Today had been one such day, where the silence hung heavy in the room, and the only noises came from far out in the hallways, from the raspy breaths that his Human drew in, and of course, those harsh beeps. Muse sighed and turned back to the window, seeing the grey clouds pass on slowly in the sky. He heard the door creak open, and the tapping of shoes on tile before they quieted over the carpets, and he stayed where he was, thinking it was just the nurse again coming in to clean up and to check up on Abby.

Instead, he heard the sounds of Abigail's parents, and turning around he saw them walk in besides a doctor he hadn't seen yet, and he quickly climbed down and dashed over onto the bed as the three sat down around it.

"Mom? Dad? Hey," Abby murmured and rubbed her eyes.

"Hey honey, how're you doing?" The mother sat on the bed next to her daughter. Her hand habitually reached out to comb through her hair, but there hardly was any, so she let it drop back to her side, gaze cast away for a moment.

"I'm great!" she said, trying and failing to sit up straighter in front of her company. "Me and Muse have been having a lotta fun together!"

"Really? That's great!" the father piped up. "But, uh, there's something we wanna talk to you about, if you're up for it now."

"Oh, okay..."

Muse uncharacteristically sat by quietly and listened, feeling the awkward tension and hidden sadness wafting through the air. He watched as the parents placed smiles onto their faces as they began to explain that Abby would be starting a new type of treatment soon, and he tilted his head at the specific wording. 'Radiation Therapy'. Hearing it made him feel uneasy, and sparing a glance to his Human he saw she felt the same.

He focused more on Abigail after this, letting the explanation (which didn't help his unease in the slightest) and the date of when they started slide by in the background. As soon as they hugged it out and left, he went over and climbed up onto his Human, balancing precariously from the rim of her shirt as he peered up at her face.

"ARE YOU OKAY?"

"I, uh," Abigail began sniffling shortly after the room emptied and the quiet settled back down, and she raised a hand to feebly wipe back the tears pooling up in her eyes, "I-I don't know?"

"OH, COME HERE!" Muse brought himself up further and wrapped his arms around her neck in a hug, his head nuzzling the underside of her chin affectionately.

"It just- j-just sounds so s-scary!" she wailed out, returning his hug by bringing her hands up around him. "I-Isn't ra-radiat-tion supposed to be bad? I learned i-it was bad!"

"WELL, UH...HOW BAD CAN IT BE IF IT'S BEING USED TO HEAL?" Muse tried, not entirely sure what it was himself. She only whimpered back, the constrictions in her chest jostling Muse where he clung to her.

"IT COULDN'T...It Couldn't Be That Bad If Your Parents Are Okay With It, Yes?" he tried again.

"Mmm...maybe..." Her hands bundled up her blanket as she pulled it higher over herself.

"I Don't Think It Will Be Bad...I BELIEVE YOU WILL BE OKAY ABBY!" he said, and with that he reached his hands out and tickled her.

"HnmphahahAHAHAHA! N-NO AHAHA S-STAHAHAHAAAP! MUSE!"

Muse leapt away with ease as she tried tickling him back, jumping from place to place as he avoided her grasping hands each time. That was, until Abby shifted a foot in his path, making his stumble, and she quickly moved in for the attack.

She kept it up until he ran out of breath before retreating, and the both of them gasped like fish out of water. Muse was a tad dismayed when the quiet returned, though at least some of the tension had ebbed away, and for that he was happy. He looked back and, seeing that she seemed to have more energy than usual today, climbed over to a nearby stand and hefted up her notepad.

"IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU'VE DRAWN, ABBY! HOW ABOUT WE DO THAT NEXT?"

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

It was the day before Abigail's first day starting the new treatment. Or rather, it was the night before. Somehow, the silence hung worse during the night, creeping through each sliver of darkness in the room and through each vulnerable thought. It kept Muse up as he fretted over tomorrow.

They had been told that he wouldn't be allowed to come with them as they brought Abby back to where they would perform the therapy, and that fact had been weighing on both of them since. He tried calming down by reminding himself that her parents would be there for her, and it helped a little, but it wouldn't be the same as being there in person to see that everything had gone alright.

He checked on Abby, looking for the signs of her having a nightmare. She had a few since hearing of the new treatment, and would wake up crying, sometimes asking him questions that he didn't have the answers for. Thankfully, she laid calmly in her sleep, looking peaceful. Muse sighed and stretched out fully on the pillow he rested on, watching the ceiling fan blades whip around in blurred circles. An itching rose in his bones, an urge to do something for his Human regardless of the fact that he wouldn't be able to go with her. He contemplated hiding away on her person when they came to take her out of the room, but ended up scraping that thought. What if his being there somehow messed up the process? Besides, they'd probably find him and just take him back anyways...

The itching grew stronger, and he stood up, starting to walk with no end goal in mind. He hopped off the pillow and crossed the bed, careful not to make a sound. He jumped over onto the table besides the bed and spared a glance at the notepad. It was left open on the page with the newest drawing on it, one of a peaceful, happy looking character with a heavy flower theme to it. As Muse looked over the crown of flowers that had been sketched on the character's head, he had a lightbulb moment, feeling that he knew what might make Abby feel better about tomorrow's appointment.

"Yes! It'll Be Perfect!" he whispered to himself, looking over at Abby and imagining how she would react when he brought her back a crown of flowers. The smile he imagined her having motivated him further, and he quickly scrambled down to the floor and out of the room.

He hummed as he got into the hallway, looking to the left and right. The unlit passageways and overall emptiness brought a chill up his spine, but he didn't let him deter him from his mission.

"Like A Puzzle, Or A Maze..." he thought aloud, beginning to walk around and keeping an eye open for something that would help him find his way outside. He spent a few minutes stealthily making his way to the end of the hall before he noticed a map hung up on one of the walls, helpfully listing the layout of the hospital for anyone unfamiliar with it.

Though it was too high to read. He huffed and braced his hands on his hips, then beamed as an idea came to mind. Waving a hand, magic sparked through the air as bone after bone shot out through the walls, making a sort of pathway up to the map. He ran forward, leaping for the first leverage and used it to swing to the next, then to the next, all the way up until he was close enough to read it. His breath puffed out, a little unused to the exertion since he became Abigail's companion, but never the less he got up and put his backbone into leaving as soon as he got the instructions. From there on the hallways became more busy with doctors and nurses working the night shifts, and he had to duck out of the way whenever someone came too close. The silence gave into rusty squeaking as people moved things to and fro, as coughing and distant crying and sounds rose up above the more or less controlled voices of the hospital workers, and the heavy stamping of feet from all directions. Muse wasn't sure if he liked this any better than the heavy quiet, and moved as quickly as he could to the front most entrance, the same one he had passed through when he first arrived here.

The Baby Blue ducked out the door as someone passed through it. He took in a deep breath and nearly stumbled, shocked at the freshness and energy it gave him. He couldn't dawdle forever though, and soon moved on, racing down a handicap-accessible ramp and out for the nearest patch of woodlands he laid his eyes on.

It...may have been a bit further than he expected. Muse paused a couple times running towards it, slowing to a light jog to catch his breath. Across the way, the calling of a crow made him glance around, and he spotted the black bird perched on the ground, beady eyes staring straight at him. It kept staring, and staring...Muse hurried his pace as he passed it by.

He only slowed down when he finally got there, and he pushed his way through the waist tall grass, eyelights starting to roam in search for the colorful flowers that had decorated his Human's drawing.

Muse jumped as something rustled behind him, and he turned to see the same crow from earlier, perched a bit away from him in the grass. It tilted its head at him, single black eye peering back at him unblinkingly.

"O-OH! HELLO THERE..."

It said nothing, of course. Only stared.

"MWEHEHEH..." Muse turned and scuttled away, heading deeper into the sparse wildlife and away from the bird.

Finally, splotches of color popped out among the dull green, and he perked up and raced over to pluck the flower from its stem. He brought it up and smelled it, and he relaxed a little when the fresh, sweet fragrance rose up. More rustling from the grass, but he mostly ignored it and went for more flowers. It was probably just the crow again.

As he went further in, the rustling began to pick up. Muse peeked over his shoulder for the bird, but found that it wasn't there.

The rustling picked up again.

Muse froze when he heard voices this time.

"Well, look't what we 'ave 'ere."

The voice was deep and sultry, and laced together with a low rumbling purr. Muse dropped his handful of flowers and swiveled around. He looked up, and kept looking upwards, his eyes blowing wide at the large...Humans(?) towering over him, even as they crouched down to peer hungrily at the Baby Blue.

His gaze snapped over to a the second one as they began to speak, his focus drifted to the forked tongue that came out of their mouth to lick at the air between words. "Another tasty morsel for tonight...I told you that hunting 'round the center was a great idea."

Before he knew it, a large hand slammed down on him, pinning him to the dirt. He cried out as his bones creaked under the pressure. Everything tumbled around him as he was lifted up his shirt and brought up before a crate just as the snake-like one began to open it for his partner.

Muse gathered his sense of direction just in time to be able peer down at the dark container. The low light made it hard to see what was inside, but he saw multiple sets of colored orbs looking back up at him as frightful cries began to rise up from among them.

"These ones...I 'ere they run a lot." the one holding him up rumbled.

"Heh, nice."

Without warning, the claws pinning his shirt let go, and he was dropped suddenly into the box. Muse yelped as he hit the bottom, groaning as he pulled himself to his feet only to get knocked down again as the crate was jostled upwards and around. He bumped into someone, but he paid it no heed, only picking himself up again and running to the end of the box.

"W-WAIT, LET ME GO!" he screeched, banging his hands on the wooden wall. "I CAN'T- MY HUMAN-!"

His pleas were lost within the cascade of other wails. He continued to bang on the wall, then placed his head near it, trying to peer out through a crack. It was no use.

"Y-YOU CAN'T DO THIS! MY HUMAN- MY...A-ABBY!"

He flung his bone attacks at the wall. They didn't work. He tried again, with new bone attacks and formations, yet they failed as well. Dread settled in his Soul, and he started taking in quicker breaths when he felt himself being taken further and further away from his Human.

"HUMAN! ABBY!"

He began weeping heavily, his banging growing weaker.

"ABIGAIL!"


	12. Home-eostasis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some well needed fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, too tired to really organize my thoughts so I'll just...jam them all in here somehow XD  
> First off, I'd like to let you guys know that I started college a few weeks back, so if anything happens where the chapters are taking a while to come out (like now, heh ^^') then just keep that in mind.  
> Next, holy flip we're almost at 200 kudos whaaaaaaaaaa??? Like...how???? Wow ;O; Thank you guys so much more liking this fic and sticking around for this long, I really don't deserve it haha  
> Also, I'm still up for any criticism or spell-checking you guys are willing to offer. Especially with the pacing of this chapter, cause as happy with it as I am, I do still feel like it has it's flaws. Like it's pacing, so if you guys have anything to say about that than I'd love to hear it ;3;  
> Aaaaand...that's it, unless I'm forgetting something. Onto Chapter 12!

Even now, you needed to know. You needed to know if Jack really, truly meant it when he told you to bring him home, and if he truly wanted to stay. Even though it brought you the irrational fear that just mentioning it would make it come true, you voiced your question anyway.

Jack didn't quite know how happy it would make you when he said 'of course'.

This also may have been the most innocent side of you he may have ever seen. And the...birdiest he's seen you in quite a while too.

"you're really eager about this, aren't you?"

He watched, amused, as you scurried from row to row of a small store you had recently found, one far away enough from the town square but close enough to home that you both felt comfortable enough to relax your guards. You still kept an eye out for anyone who threatened to become hostile, but in the recent wake of the attacks led by Humans, it seemed that more and more Beast-Humans chose to avoid violence amongst one another. Granted, this was really only because their focus was turned to their new collective enemy, but no one could deny the new sense of 'peace' they felt between each other and the packs.

After asking, he saw your eyes flash up minutely. You opened your mouth to say something, but the only thing that came out was an excited cooing when you spotted a cluster of small, Bitty-sized items that would prove useful back home. Jack sputtered and hid his sudden laughter behind fake coughing when you turned and shot him an embarrassed glare.

"Hmph...maybe," you admitted, tone falsely grumpy.

He laughed freely at that.

You rolled your eyes, gently shifting the shoulder he was sitting on as you turned back the small items and other materials. "Stop and come help me chose what to buy. I need to know if anything here will actually work or not."

He 'ported down and started inspecting. You were skeptical that there would be anything worthwhile though, the most you had found were more toy like items, though you held out hope that there would be something useful among them. Though if you had to, you were willing to try your hand at making the items yourself, such as clothing, the bed, ecetera, but there were just some things that you couldn't make. Like shoes. Or super tiny spoons and forks. And even then, how would it all turn out anyway? You frowned when the image of a lopsided, poorly crafted bed popped up in your mind.

"these are fine," he said, holding up a shirt and pair of pants. "but none of the...furniture really works."

You sighed, feathers ruffled. "Alright then...we're going with plan B then."

"plan b?" Jack echoed, but you already plucked him, moving along and dumping him (gently) down onto a shelf purely composed of various materials, with plenty of woods and fabrics and tools.

"Plan B," you reiterated, and said nothing more before looking at the selection and taking up whatever caught your eye. Sometimes you leaned forward, clicking your teeth and peering closely at something in particular, sometimes tapping it with your talon or otherwise testing it. Jack wasn't entirely sure if you were doing this because you knew what you were looking for, or if you were operating on some other level, but either way he sat back and watched you flutter about and pick up whatever caught your fancy.  
At some point he gave that up and teleported onto you, and promptly fell asleep.

...

"Jack."

He stirred, grumbling and furrowing down deeper into the warmth he laid on.

"Jack, wake up."

"hnnmmm?" he mumbled, slightly opening his eyes, a hint of a frown tugging at him ever-present smile.

"Look," you whispered reverently. And he did. He looked, and immediately regretted it when he saw _so much brightness_.

"oh. stars. gah!"

He turned away, blinking rapidly as you laughed at his reaction. Once he was ready (and rid his eyes of the pain that caused), he cautiously turned back.

He was met with sequins. Bright, colorful sequins. Oh, and beads too, as well as bottles of paint, markers, ribbons, rainbows of threads, and enough glitter to prank two hundred separate people.

"Help me pick some out," you said, beginning to reach for a tube of paint. "And, uh, which colors do you like?"

"wow." He blinked, shaking himself out of his daze. "oh, blue and purple, i guess."

You nodded, then quieted down as you plucked up item after item from the shelves, sticking mostly to the colors that he listed, but every now and then he saw you pick up something else. It was refreshing, to feel this relaxed while he got to see you so genuinely happy. When was the last time you two had been this happy? Too long, he thought.

Something caught his eye, and grinning, he walked over and hoisted up the end of a large plastic bag. "heh, lookit this."

You glanced over as he lifted the bag up higher. It was filled with fake, colorful feathers.

"...No," you scoffed at the bag and turned away, making Jack laugh. A moment later, and the two of you had swapped places as, instead, you held up something you had found.  
"I'm buying this," you stated, stealing his grin and wearing it devilishly.

"no. no way." He 'ported over and tried snatching it away, only to have you sidestep and hold it closely to your chest.

"Yes way." You brandished the small, skeleton magnet almost proudly. "It's even bigger than you are! I have to get it," you laughed and placed it in your hand basket.

"just barely," he protested weakly. You kept the hand basket far away as he walked closer to it sneakily.

"It's going on the fridge," you declared. Jack pouted, then walked away. As you turned back to the shelf, you felt a slight weight suddenly add itself to the basket, so you glanced down. You saw the bag of feathers. You rolled your eyes and took it out.

A moment later and it was back in the basket.

The two of you kept this up for a while before you gave in, accepting that as long as you were getting the cute magnet, then he was getting those bag of fake feathers.  
"You're not even going to use them," you grumbled as you went to the checkout, keeping your voice low as you carefully approached the cashier. The man gave you a curt nod, and you neared closer before placing your items up to be scanned.

"will too," Jack whispered back as he nudged your neck. You wrinkled your nose at him.

"Not if I can help it," you muttered back playfully.

"you won't." Jack gave you a shit eating grin.

Hearing those words as you gathered up your purchases and walked out of the store, you knew that a future war was inevitable.

\- - - - -

Back home, Jack sat, legs splayed out in front of him on the too large couch. As soon as they had gotten home, his Human (he was still getting used to thinking of them as such, but it felt good every time he did) had went straight for starting the project that they had in mind. Their 'plan B', as they had called it. He hardly paid attention to the show playing in front of him, mind wandering over to what they were working on right now.

Earlier, he had tried catching a sneak peak at their work, only to be shooed away. 'No, you can't see it until it's done!' he remembered them saying when he tried walking into the guest room. And that was the other thing on his mind. The guest room. He thought that they would have went into their own room for their work, yet they had went for the guest room instead. He almost wanted to go try to look again, but he knew that it probably wouldn't work.

He could connect the dots though. He knew that they were likely trying to make things for him, since that's what they had been trying to find at the store. And since they hadn't found anything, they had come up with their plan B. But what exactly they were making, and how they would make it, he couldn't guess. So he was forced to wait.

And wait.

And...wait...

He was woken up for the second time that day, roused by your hushed, yet excited voice.

"Hey Jack, come on, wake up!"

He frowned, a shiver of unease running through him. You noticed and narrowed your eyes slightly, but chose not to mention it.

"I got to show you something. It's not done yet...but it's got all the basics, and it turned out way better than I imagined."

"...what?" He rubbed his tired eyes, peering around for a clock. Instead, he was met with a deep set darkness that was near impossible to see in. "wh...what time'sit?"  
"It's five, I think, but come on I need to show you this."

He was scooped up into their hands while he processed what they said.

"five...in the _morning_?"

"Yeah, sorry for waking you up," you said, and walked down the hall to the guest room.

"it's okay, but that's not what was on my mind..." he trailed off and looked up at you, just knowing that you stayed up all night. He wondered how, until he got a whiff of the coffee scent wafting off of you. Ah, he should have guessed.

He almost felt like chastising you, but you had already opened the door and went in with a happy skip in your step. The little, zesty movement was enough to capture his attention as he was placed on the ground, turned to see what you were so eager to show him.

"oh, wow."

Surely, you had been lying when you said that there wasn't much to show, because right now, he was rapidly looking back and forth between the things you had crafted together that night. He walked over to the closest one (over a neat patch of carpet, he noted. That hadn't been there before). It was a dresser, and while it was admittedly simple and a tad too big, it was clearly made with a lot of care. He ran his fingers over the wood and found it quite smooth.

"you made this?" he whispered, moving on to the drawers. "does it work?"

You huffed, suddenly looking tired. "Yeah, thank god. It was the hardest part."

Testing the truth to the statement, he pulled on the knobs, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it did open out. "woah. neat." He turned to you, gratefulness evident on his face. "thank you, so much."

"Pfft, it's not even painted yet," you said, brushing it off. "And you haven't seen the rest yet either."

Jack tinkered with the rest of the drawers, opening and closing them, finding that they worked just as well as the first. "well, i'm sure the rest will be just as amazing as this."  
This got your feathers ruffled, he was pleased to see. "I-If you say so." You tried to hide a smile, but he saw that too, and with a grin of his own he turned around to face the rest.

"oh geez, heheheh, what?"

Somehow, he had missed this and wasn't sure how. The bed, tucked up against the corner, was absolutely covered in blankets, pillows, and seemingly anything else soft and small that his Human had seemingly found. It got to the point that it spilled off the bed and onto the plush carpeting around it.

"Yeah, I know," he heard you say. Then- "There's not enough blankets. I'm gonna fix that later."

He paused, then snorted. "uhh...i think there's enough." Overcoming the urge to continue gawking at the absurd pile of softness, he briefly went around to check out what remained. There was also a small table and chair set, resembling their larger counterparts in the kitchen.

"Well, I'm just glad you like it," you started, "Even though it still needs to be painted, and there are some other things I want to add as well, and-"

Jack stopped you by moving over and briefly hugging your wrist. "it's perfect, thanks."

"Oh, well," you shuffled a little in your spot, "uh, your welcome then, Jack."

You felt him freeze before he slipped away from your wrist. You tilted your head down at him, finding it too strange to ignore once again.

"Are you okay?" you asked, focusing heavily on him.

"umm," he looked away, "what do you mean?"

Your eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"...Jack?"

There! Again, you saw him twitch slightly. Your mouth opened before you even realized it, ready to dig the truth out of him, before you stopped. Something about this seemed...familiar. The specific feeling of regret rose inside you, just thinking about it, and slowly you closed your mouth, and your gaze softened a touch.

"I feel like something's bothering you..." you tried, tasting the words in your mouth. "Do you want to talk about it?" For a moment, you wondered if that was still too direct, and hastily added, "I-If you want to, that is."

It felt like an eternity was crawling by at a snail's pace, and a slight sweat broke out as you waited for his response. After some time, he took in a deep breath, then let it out as a sigh. He stood awkwardly before deciding to sit down, and finally he met your gaze back.

"okay," he relented hesitantly. "i guess...after coming back from, well, you know..."

He trailed off, seeming to organize his thoughts. You waited it out, a rising wave of patience moving through you.

"i'm not sure why, but since then it feels as though...like my name just doesn't fit right anymore."

You blinked curiously. "Your name?"

He nodded. "nich chose it for me when he first adopted me, i think i told you...and ever since i saw-" he broke off, clenching his hands together in his lap. "-it just doesn't feel the same anymore."

You took this all in, nodding along with his words. It was hard seeing exactly what problem he seemed to be weighed down by. After all, you don't remember when your parents had given your own name to you. Obviously, you were too young to recall that time, so for your whole life your name has just been your name. Your title. Your self. Yet the same couldn't be said for Jack. He could remember when his name was gifted to him by someone he once trusted, practically making it a sign that they belonged together. A sign that he had been accepted into the family. Yet now, that person had betrayed him, and you could only imagine how awful it must have been to be reminded of that time after time again, simply by the mention of your own name. Softly, you cooed and chirped reassuringly under your breath, not even noticing that you were doing it.

"Well, maybe-is there something else you want to be called instead?"

Jack, having become relaxed due to your small noises, jolted back upright as your inquiry. "h-huh?"

You leaned in closer. "Do you want-" _a new name?_ You thought it, but couldn't say it. Instead you opted for, "-a nickname? Or something similar?"

The Sansy's brow scrunched up in thought, though his eyelights appeared larger and brighter than usual. "oh, uh, sure. what did you have in mind?"

Oh. You hadn't expected him to shift the job onto you. You wracked your brain for something to call him, something that he might like, something simple and easy to remember, yet individual in it's own right. Yet the exhaustion that had been weighing you down for the last few hours hadn't magically vanished, so it took you much longer to find one than you would like to admit.

"J sounds nice," you decided. Though, unsure if he would like it (it was just the first letter of his name, after all. Was that any better?), you turned your tired gaze to him.

Well, if that smile was anything to go by, then he probably liked it.

"j, huh?" he said easily, confirming your thoughts. Then he chuckled. "funny how you can make this awesome furniture but not a creative nickname."

"H-Hey!" you squawked indignantly. He (J, you reminded yourself) kept on laughing, and eventually you caved in and laughed too.

As he was distracted, you laid down on your back next to him, reveling in how nice it felt to relax like that after so long. Fighting to keep your eyes open, you pulled out your phone and blearily opened your camera and facing it at the two of you.

"Cheeeeeseee." It clicked, and you managed to capture an image of you smiling as J laughed before he caught onto the fact of what was happening.

"oh, what?" he questioned, looking up at the new, and first, picture that featured the two of you.

A smile stretched over your sharp teeth, a twinkle sparking in your eye as you spoke. "Well, I do need a picture for my new skeleton magnet, heheheh."

"oh. oh no." He feebly waved his arms at your phone, but you powered it off and tucked it away, much to his dismay.

"Yes. Oh yes," you teased, eye lids drooping as a yawn slipped past your lips.

"you aren't really gonna use it, are you?" He stretched up to see where you put it, though it was no use. A second passed where nothing was said. "uh, _ _ _ _ _ ?"

He turned to face you again, then giggled at what he saw. You were officially passed out on the floor, finally having gave into your exhaustion. And not a moment too soon, as the very first rays of the sun were peeking in through the window.

Foregoing his new bed, he climbed back onto you as he had last night, not ready to ditch the sudden oppurtunity for another nap. It's not like you would mind, right?

 _ya know, maybe it isn't so bad nich got a new bitty_ , he thought, cozying down happily into your warmth. _not if it means that this is my life from now on, with my new Human..._

Soon, his quiet snores and your soft cooes were the only noises in the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think I forgot about those fake feathers, heheh.  
> What do you guys think J should do with them? If you come up with something neat to do with them, then I'll use it in one of the future chapters (maybe even the very next one), and you'll get credit at the top for the idea.
> 
> Edit: OH WAIT UM ALSO  
> I have an idea for the next(ish) chapter, and was wondering...do you have any questions about Beast-Humans? Anything regarding them, really. Put them in the comments below so I know what you guy's still have questions about.


	13. A Training Montage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 13! I hope I answered all your questions well in it, but if you find that is doesn't give you enough than I'm sorry. I'm completely up for answering them again in the comments if that's the case. I think I did pretty well though, but keep an eye out because they're not all answered verbally by the characters. Some are, though some others are answered through action and example.
> 
> Also, for all the lovely people who gave me the feather suggestions, I ended up not using it for this chapter because of how long it was getting, and the fact that this chapter was already starting to get a bit cluttered and it would have been too awkward and forced to put it in here. Instead, I'm planning on making a mini-halloween chapter featuring it, so I hope that makes up for it ^^

It was the end of another day, and J slipped quietly into his new bed. His back pressed against the even newer mattress, recently added within the last two days, among other things that were newly added in his room. Now, everything sported a fresh coat of paint. Purple and blue ran smoothly over his dresser, table, chair, and bed, sometimes transitioning from one color to the next as the two mixed pleasingly together. Even the patch of carpet underneath it was a soft lavender, which helped tie it all together.

Yet despite the great comfort that it proved to be, he found himself awake even as the moon rose high enough to spill light in through the windows. Outside of himself, the house seemed void of noise. He couldn't even listen to the soft sounds that you made in your sleep, the reason being that you weren't here at the moment. A few days ago, suspicious activity with the Humans had risen, causing the packs to become more vigilant than before. After a few small attacks have been reported, scheduled watches shifted, became more strict, and now you had to keep watch during the night until further notice. Since you had all these new responsibilities to tend to, he and you spent less time seeing each other in your spare time.

J sighed and shifted out from under the covers. His bony feet clacked loudly as he walked from carpet to hardwood, and going over to underneath one of the windows, he 'ported up onto the ledge. He trudged over to the glass, peering out at the spread of stars flickering throughout the dark sky.

Just as he imagined, yet better. The stars twinkled, peeking out from stray, wispy clouds, greeting him just as brightly as always. They never failed to calm the nervous stir of his magic. As he enjoyed the view, he took a second to close his eyes and take in a deep breath. The stars were beautiful, he would never doubt that. Yet, seeing them now, he always noted just how far away they seemed. His magic buzzed, roused out of it's tranquil state with the urge to get a closer look. He could barely hold himself back from using the same trick he had used before to force the window open, only restricted by his worried thoughts.

_would this make them mad?_ True as it was that you and him were on more friendly terms again, he knew that there was still some untreaded ground between the two of you. Namely, this. Asides from his second day here, the only times where he had been outside was when he had been accompanying you. Never on his own. He couldn't help but think that was intentional on your behalf, and the fact that all the windows seemed to always be closed tight only added to it.

Despite that though, his magic surged, summoning up the bones needed to push the window up.

_even if they are, they can't stop it._ The window slid slowly open. _i'm not their pet, after all. i chose to come back. and i chose to stay._

Within moments, the chill winter air swept in through the few freed inches, and he slipped under easily.

J took a moment to look around, a tad on edge now that he was outside the relative safety of the house. Yet nothing jumped out at him. Only the soft breeze greeted him, and so he turned to look up at his destination; the rooftop.

He doubted they would be as close as when he had been so far up in the sky with you, yet he hoped they would be. He needed to see.

"...the real question is, how am i gonna get up there...?" he pondered aloud, peering straight up at the very, very tall wall.

He gave another cursory glance around, and spotted a tall rising tree.

"... how convenient," he said, and prepared his magic. He made a bone shoot out from the bark, making it within teleporting distance before he zipped over. Using this method, he climbed his way up the tree until he was close enough to the roof, and walked carefully across a straying limb until he could 'port over.

As soon as he was on the roof, he tilted his head back up to the stars.

They twinkled peacefully, a bit brighter and closer now that he was higher up, though not as much as they had been when he had been up in the sky with you. Still, it was nice, and he traveled away from the edge so he could sit down and lean back on his hands. The cool air, the bright stars, and quiet...he let it all wash over him as he kept his eyes fixed above.

\- - - - -

That wasn't the last time he went out for a nightly stargazing. He made it a routine. Go out through the window, climb the tree, then relax under the moonlight. He kept this up, night after night, until you eventually caught him doing it.

"aw c'mon, it's not that dangerous right outside the house, is it?"

Your mouth twitched. "Well, maybe not right outside the house...but that's not the point."

"than what is the point?"

Your mouth opened, yet nothing came out for several seconds. "W-what if the neighbors see you? Or something else happens?"

J stilled as this thought run over him, a barely repressed shiver crawling up his spine. You could see that this upset him, and that he seemed to be mulling it over. A breath hissed through his teeth as he ran a hand over his head.

"i dunno...but lately, i-i...ugh." He paused to rub harshly at his eyes. "i can't just stay t-, uh, cooped up in here for days on end. i know i'm lazy, but even that would be too much."

That didn't sound like the full story to you, but you let it slide. What he said did make sense after all, though you hated to admit it.

"Okay, okay, umm," You mimicked his motions and rubbed your face. "Let, er, give me some time to think of something."

_I would really hate that too, come to think of it..._ went the unspoken words that ran through your head. _Maybe I should put more consideration into these things._

"alright," J said, his voice bringing you back to the presence. Turning your attention back to him, you saw him looking out one of the kitchen windows, wearing a contemplative expression. You also caught a glance of the time on the stove top, and left him to his thoughts in order to get ready for another day of delivery.

You wouldn't be home again until hours later, but by then you had an idea in mind for the whole 'J going outside' thing. Though you needed to ask one question first.

"How far out from the house do you intend to be going?"

"uhh, probably not far..."

Oh, good. You breathed a sigh of relief.

"...though i'd like the option to go further."

Ah fuck.

"why? did you think of something yet?" J asked. You gave a quick nod.

"Yeahhh..."

"uh, you don't sound too happy about it."

You sighed, and tried putting a clamp on your nerves and took a seat at the table. "I just never thought I'd ever be doing anything like this, especially with you."

He tilted his head up at you, a hesitant yet wondering glint in his eyes. "what?"

You propped your elbows up so you could rest your head on your threaded fingers. "It's sort of like something that most parents go through with their children. Basic training. They show them how to attack or defend themselves, and usually how to best optimize their unique traits, typically having them themselves."

J blinked wide eyes at you, looking more engaged than before. "you never mentioned this before..." He looked down, and you were about to continue before he brought his gaze back up, and you could practically see the questions on the tip of his tongue.

"did you go through that too? does that mean both your parent were bird-like?"

A small, amused smile curled on your lips, and you settled further into your seat. "Yes, I did, though only one of my parents had wings as well. My mother was more along the lines of a polar bear though."

By the way that J almost gaped at you, it was easy to assume that this caught him off guard. "a...polar bear? that seems so random, don't humans tend to look like their parents and stuff?"

You tapped your talons as you answered. "Your thinking too much about human-humans. Unlike them, we have magic, and it plays a vital ro-"

"wait, magic?! since when?" J jerked forward at the news, brows raised and eyes wide.

"Since forever?" you chuckled.

"but...you never use it? what does it do? ...would it affect me in any way?"

Heavier chuckles came from you, only confusing J further. "It's not- alright, heheh, it's not exactly like monster magic, and what? It could affect you, but only if someone's attacking you or something, really. Oh, and it's involuntary, mostly." You paused, sort of enjoying J's enthused curiosity and waiting for the expected...

"mostly?"

Ah, there it is.

"Yeah...well, I guess it depends on how you view it." You stretched out one wing and gestured to it. "Long ago, our magic changed, or became internalized, or whatever. It began acting like monster magic in the way that it changed our bodies. In the same way that monsters can look like basically anything, we can look, behave, and, uh, function like any animal. You could argue that I use magic any time I fly, since my wing is composed of it, but others may not."

"wow...that's a lot'ta take in..." He grew quiet, then smiled deviously and stared you in the eye. "does that mean you hatched from an egg like a bird too?"

An embarrassing, indignant squawk tumbled out of your throat that you tried to pretend never happened. "Hahaha, I think that's enough questions for today." You pushed back your chair and stood. "I should plan more for your training."

J's hysterical laughter trailed after you as you left the kitchen.

\- - - - -

It had taken you to the next day until you had everything you needed sorted out. Partially because you needed to re-imagine the training for someone as small as J, and partially because after the whole magic digression, J had come to you with even more questions than before.

"so uh, you never answered the egg thing."

You nearly punted him from your room at that, but then you noticed he was genuinely inquisitive, and you relented.

"No, I didn't." You went on before he had the chance to ask why. "It's because, while we may have additional parts, like my tail, we didn't come from animals. We still have our, er, Human parts, if you know what I mean."

Judging by his snickers, he definitely knew what you meant.

You left him in his own room after that, thinking it would be over by the morning.

It wasn't.

Just as you were about to go looking for him, he popped up on the kitchen table, somehow ready before you needed to fetch him.

"so i just realized i don't know much about this 'training' thing you have in mind," he said, looking up at you expectantly.

You gave a little huff. "As fun as it was answering all your questions, I was starting to wonder when you'd get to this. You're not one to be prepared, are you?"

"heh," he gave you a slightly guilty laugh in response, and you rolled your eyes.

"Anyway," you started, starting to place some items down on the table. J glanced down and saw various needles, a tiny knife, a pushpin, and other small, pointy objects. "considering your size, we'll mostly be focusing on you being able to escape any possible threat, but having some way to stun your enemy wouldn't hurt either. I figured we'd try some of these out and see how it goes."

J blinked down at them, then up at you. "uhh, i dunno how to say this, but..."

You sighed. "Yeah, I get it, you probably don't want to hurt anyo-"

J cut in, saying, "i already have a better weapon than any'ah these."

"Wait, huh?" The roles seemed to flip as you felt your own inquiry rise up. "W-When, where? What is it?"

With an almost sheepish wave of his hand, you watched as something flickered in the air, a darkness so empty that it hurt to look at it, before something small, white, and bony took its place.

"What the hell?" you yelped, feeling your feathers bristle as a bizarre, tiny dragon skull suddenly came into existence. Feeling your aggression, the tiny beast turned towards you with a sharp growl.

"woah, down girl." J reached up to calmly pat the creature on it's snout, but it skirted out of his reach. "they're a good pal of mine."

He saw his blaster return to its defensive position in front of him, and now noticed that you had gone stock still in turn, staring down at the floating skull with a cold intensity he wasn't fond of seeing again. A sweat began to break out as he saw the two of you stand off against the other, a weird feeling hanging in the air that reminded him of how stray dogs would circle around each other right before a fight.

His nerves began to rise and he began to step in, but stopped when you uttered a low chitter that he somehow interpreted as 'stay back'.

Slowly, oh so slowly, a sense of ease returned. Your features relaxed bit by bit, and his blaster followed suit, beginning to look at you with intrigue rather than hostility. As the blaster drifted up to you, you gave them your fingers to sniff at and finally slumped over in relief.

"Damn," you muttered breathlessly.

"what the hell was that?" he asked, baffled and lost and a little too worried for his own liking.

You didn't answer, but instead exchanged little sounds with the draconic skull, and it began butting your hand, already demanding your attention.

"uhh..."

"So, what kinda weapon are they?" you asked casually, as though nothing had happened.

"...really?" He leveled you with a stare, one that you didn't meet as you kept your eyes on the small blaster. A breath whistled out between his teeth as he felt himself giving up on getting any sort of answer out of you. "it can shoot a beam of magic."

"Really?" you echoed, the difference being the slight awe in your voice. "Well, good, that's way better than anything I could've given you."

The little blaster chirped gloatingly, to which you smiled, amused. Right after that, your phone buzzed, and you checked it.

"Oh, heheh, we got carried away. Delilah's been waiting for us."

"delilah? she'll be with us?" J asked. You noticed the blaster quiet down, and felt it tense up defensively. It took a lot not to mirror the skull back, startled as you were by the suddenness of it. You spared it a inquisitive glance, wondering why it was on edge now, but seeing as how it wasn't targeted at you, you ignored it and turned back to J.

"Yep." You offered him your palm, and he stepped on, letting you bring him up to your shoulder. You started to leave the house as you continued talking. "She'll be helping here and there, and it would be good to let you practice against someone other than just me."

"oh..."

You felt him shift on your shoulder ever so slightly, and the trailing blaster gave a barely restrained shiver. Weird.

"Hey, don't be nervous, I bet you'll do great. And even if you don't, that's what training is for. You'll be a survival pro in no time," you offered, hoping it would ease his worries.

"heh, okay," he said, eyes downcast and brow creased in thought. You sighed and kept walking. Seems like it didn't work...oh well, you'll just have to show him (and yourself) that he'll be just fine.

The sun was directly overhead by the time you got to the relatively empty section of town. It consisted mostly of small shops, most of them abandoned and left to rot among the dirty streets. You recall, many years ago before you had joined your pack, that this had been a rather successful place for those who wished to trade or sell their goods to all, as it had been one of the rare places where most packs could tread freely. That was, until one of the fiercer pack's had yearned for it, and began to drive out all the others. You weren't a participant yourself, having no pack at the time to fight for, though Delilah had told you that the savagery of all the fighting had left the area broken and useless to everyone but the animals. Truly ironic, you thought. At least it made for good hunting, every now and again.

And now, it made the perfect spot for training.

"Hey, it's about time you showed!" Delilah shouted, and you looked to see her waving you down. You perked up and crossed the street over to her, making sure not to step on any stray glass shards or random debris along the way.

"so, what're we doing out here?" J asked, twisting his head to and fro as he caught sight of everything. The ravaged buildings, bare of life and infested with shadows, stood out in particular amongst the long roads, empty save for the occasional car that had been busted in from all sides. J's blaster gave a shrill whine in response.

"Oh my god, you got another one? Why does it look like a tiny bad ass dragon?!" Delilah squealed, rushing over to peer at the floating skull. It hissed and backed up from her, snapping it's teeth when the doggish Human only stepped closer again.

"That's his weapon, apparently," you said, catching Delilah's attention. Before she could start, you waved her down and said, "Yeah, I know, I know, it's cool and weird, but we need to get to training J."

"Alright..." She blinked, obviously wanting to delve deeper, yet holding herself back with a very fine thread of restraint. All except for, "and it's J now, huh?"

You hummed and chose some backstreets at random, starting to go down them before anymore distractions could arise (cough cough Delilah cough). A brisk cold quickly set in as the weak sunlight was blotted out by the darkened stores.

"So this is how it's gonna work." You stopped halfway in, and took J and placed him on the ground. You remained in a crouch as you spoke. "Delilah will stand watch to make sure no one unwanted comes by unexpectedly. I'll play the role of the enemy, and you do all you can to get away to safety, understood?"

J placed his hands in his pockets, but you saw how his eyes flickered. It was clear that he was beginning to doubt his choice in doing this as it became obvious just what he was getting himself involved in, but as the seconds ticked by, you also saw him steel his resolve, and he eventually nodded.

"got it," he confirmed, and you nodded back.

"Good." You looked from J to Delilah, a message playing between your eyes. She perked up and flashed a sharp grin, then flexed her claws before hauling herself up a half demolished wooden wall and onto the roof. A few wooden planks fell and clattered immediately after.

J flinched at the sight, startled. His attention was taken back as he found himself being turned around, away from you and the flimsy wooden mess left behind.

"And now..."

He felt you gave him a small push, sending him deeper into the dark backstreets.

"...we start."

A sudden cold wind clawed up his spine, and he turned right back around, only to see you gone. The empty roads suggested that neither you or Delilah had ever been there, despite that he knew you had been there mere seconds before.

J called your name softly, then quickly felt foolish for it. This was you training him, after all, so you vanishing must also be a part of it, unexpected as it was. He had imagined something more direct, like a lesson spoken in lecture, and felt foolish again after clearing through these thoughts. Though, what you were planning to do, he had no idea.

...well, that was a lie. He had an idea, and it sent shivers up his back. He slowly started to walk along, unsure of where he was going or why, no real path laid out in front of him and no real clue of what he thought you wanted him to do, and his mind drifted back to that party. To that gathering, the one that still left him smelling Dust and seeing the sight of fleeing Bitties and chasing Beast-Humans.

The imagery flickered in front of his eyes as he shifted his gaze around the rummage on the dim road. He hated to admit it, but when he recalled those memories so vividly, he sometimes wondered of you...and he was doing it now. You had proven yourself already, you had gone out of your way to show him that what you had nearly done then was an impossibility now, yet...that darkness in the back of his mind grabbed hold and tainted his wonder...was it as impossible as he thought? Could you- would you, right now, as he was alone and vulnerable, decide that none of your bond was worth it, that a quick bite was so much better-

_Clank!_

He swiveled around, eyes intense as he bore his stare onto...

A loose can. He slowly relaxed and sighed as it rolled about a bit before coming to a lame stop.

_c'mon j, stop being stupid, they would never do that. this is just training..._

Bit by bit, he forced his bones to loosen up. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, hunched over slightly, and purged his mind of those invasive contemplation. J turned his head this way, then that as he waited for you to bring on the teaching. It was taking quite a while, he noticed, and he kept walking, feeling it was what he was supposed to do.

Then he heard an owl's hoot, the hallow call ringing through the air. The noise made him pause. The owl's call sounded again, but really, was he certain it was just an owl?  
The image of large, taloned hands sweeping down on him flashed through his mind, and he sped up his walking, no longer worrying about you and what you were up to. It had been a long time since they started- and the owl-maybe-human's call sounded again, and now he was fully concerned on whether or not he was truly alone. He froze as he heard something shift ever so slightly to his left.

A horrid, bone-chilling caw ripped through the air as something huge flew out from the shadows, and in a blink J was gone, frazzled magic forcing his paralyzed bones a few feet away from where the large creature had now landed. A raspy, warbled hiss leaked out from the beast, the noise accompanied by the ruffling of feathers as it picked itself up. J turned to look right as it leapt again, and with a fearful gasp, he zapped away again, and didn't waste time as he went straight into a run, uncaring of who was chasing him, only concerned with not being caught.

His slippered feet slammed down on the concrete as he pushed himself away, his magic slinging him forward as another loud thump resounded behind him. He wheezed as he felt the breeze left from how close it had gotten this time.

"shit shit shit." He turned a corner, praying with every fiber of his being that his pursuer really was you, and you were just being terrifying for the sake of training. And to think he agreed to this!

Something clanked in front of him, and he took to time to see what it was as he turned on his heel back the way he came.

As soon as he came around, he was faced with the towering form of the beast, frazzled wings spread wide and far above him.

"AHHH!" he shouted as they pounced, and without thinking about it his magic went haywire. Within a second a tear was in space, and a high shriek tore through the air, followed by a deafening blast, then a pained shriek.

The commotion died down, and he finally caught up with what was happening.

A curse slipped past his teeth when J, to both his relief and guilt, saw that it had been you chasing him the whole time. He wanted to slap himself for thinking otherwise, but the way you kept a hand on your pained face made him rush over to you instead.

"fuck, are you okay? i'm sorry, i got caught up in it and-" He stopped as you waved a dismissive hand at him, moving it away from your wound to do so. He hissed at the sight of the spotchy red burn left on your cheek.

"It's fine," you said, voice withholding a whimper, "honestly, I'm kinda proud right now."

"p-proud? but i just hurt you!"

"Yep," you said, offering a smile, "and this same pain will be felt by anyone looking to attack you too. Pretty reassuring, if you ask me."

"i...i guess, but still..."

"Hey," You sat up fully and scooped J into your hands, bringing him up to eye level with you. "yeah, maybe you did, but it's fine, really. I'm the one training you, and I knew that this might have happened, especially after seeing that litte hellhound of yours." You gave the guilty blaster a small pat, instantly cheering it up.

"still doesn't mean i like it," J argued weakly back. "maybe this training thing isn't such a good idea..."

You frowned when you heard this. "Does that mean you don't want to go outside on your own, then?"

He hesitated, and your frown deepened. Even if the thought of J, alone beyond the safety of your home, bothered you, getting to do this today with him had been...nice. Relieving, or reassuring, or some other word that started with 'r'. You knew you couldn't keep him locked inside the house whenever he wasn't with you, and seeing that he had the potential to kick ass really brought up your spirits. All of a sudden, you wanted to teach him more. Show him all your tricks, show him all the best places to hide or to ambush, where not to go when being chased, how to hunt the rabbits that ran around-

Oh, well, maybe not that last bit. Maybe you were getting a little carried away, but the notion still stood. Between a vulnerable J and one that could survive like a pro, well, the choice was beyond easy to make.

Seeing him reconsider really drove this point home, of how much he could benefit from training, and you crossed your fingers that he wouldn't want to end now.

"i-"

Just as he was about to answer, a scurrying noise was heard overhead, and Delilah could be seen peeking out over one of the nearby buildings, still on the rooftops.

"I heard something, is everything..." she trailed off as she saw your injury. "Did, did J do that...?"

You gave her a quick nod, giving another proud look at J, though saw that he looked more than a little worried. Huh.

Before you could question it, Delilah burst out with a loud, barking laughter, hands soon clutching her sides as she gasped for breath. "Damn girl! Maybe you're the one who needs training!"

You took no notice of how J relaxed as you shot back an angry "Hey!" in response. Your frown lessened into a pout as she only kept going.

"Ahahahah...hahah..hah...but really, we should probably get that treated."

You hissed as you were reminded of your burn, receiving two concerned looks in return.

"Alright, training's done for today, then."

"Will we be coming back tomorrow again?" Delilah asked, climbing down and helping you to your feet. At the question, you remembered that J had yet to answer you, and turned your gaze to him.

His eyes met yours, and nodded. The little twist in your gut relaxed at this.

"Yep, we start again tomorrow."

\- - - - -

"how'd you get this job, anyways?"

Your wings folded in as you landed back down to Earth, and you tilted your head to where J's voice came from, that being the small pouch around your waist. You grabbed the strap and turned it around so you could actually see him, being mindful of the larger backpack of deliveries that you were carrying with you as well.

"I never told you?" you asked. He nodded a 'no'. "Huh, well I got it soon after joining Judy's pack. Before then, I was on my own. A loner, as many call it." You began walking as you spoke. J nodded, showing he was following along. "During that time, I went across all sorts of different territories. Usually, this is a problem, as many loners tend to stir up trouble on their way, but I usually just stuck to myself, and for that most of the other packs tended to see me in a neutral way. Not always, unfortunately, but still, I got something of a reputation with a lot of them. Judy noticed this, and pairing that with the fact that I could fly, she gave me this job." You paused for a moment, smiling at the memory. "It's not often that a pack will have any members in it that are trusted by outside packs, so I was sort of the first person she asked."

"oh, cool." J went quiet as he mulled it all over. "do you like it?"

"I..." you trailed off, going quiet for a moment. "It's nice, I suppose. Can be a bit rough sometimes, but it pays."

"ah..."

You looked at him, feeling that he would keep speaking.

"i know about the kinda jobs that human, er, human-humans have, but what about you guys?"

"Er, well," You seemed to fumble with your answer, "it depends pack to pack, though the generals are job like hunting, guarding, fighting, being a sentry, teaching the young specific things, and more. We also do a lot of things that human-humans do too, to keep up the town and regular food supply and electricity and stuff. A lot of people will have at least one job that works well with their physical advantages, like with me."

"oh, neat," J hummed right as you arrived back in the ghost town, meeting Delilah's broad smile with a small upward twitch of your own lips. J piped up as you went over to her.  
"hey, i know i asked to do this and all, but we can wait until your, ah, burn heals up." J cast you a guilty look as you reached up to unconsciously touch your bandaged cheek.  
"That won't be an issue," you said, "after all, you'll be training with Delilah today."

J gave you a blank stare. "what?"

The woman herself trotted up to met you halfway, shifting her grin to the small skeleton as she neared. "Yup! You'll be with me today, it'll be so great!"

"a-are you sure? cause we could just wait, you don't hafta do it-"

"Don't have to? Please, it would be my pleasure." Delilah looked down at J, grin turning ever so sharper for a split second.

"She really doesn't mind J," you said, hoping to wave away the guilt that he didn't have. "Besides, you'll need to learn how to fight or run away from different people."

"ah, yeah...that makes sense," j caved in, argument destroyed in light of your logic.

"Well, come on then! No time like the present!" Delilah jumped into action, leading the way into the open streets rather than the narrow alleyways. She stopped about twenty feet away as you placed J on the ground.

"She does things more direct than I do, so keep that in mind," you informed him, quickly wishing him good luck before heading away to keep an eye out, as Delilah had done the day prior.

"okay," he whispered. He felt the cold sweep in as you left his side. He stayed like that for a second, trying to delay his impending training for as long as possible before turning to where he had last seen the wolfish girl.

Only to see her already on the ground, dashing straight for him on all fours.

He yelled in fright as she ran at him, falling onto his back as she leapt, landing with her clawed hands on both sides of him. She leaned in with a mock grin, eyes sparkling with delight, and she lunged forward with a snap of her teeth, only to close in on empty air.

A startled yip escaped her as she stared at the ground, then whipped her head around to find the missing J just a few feet away, looking frazzled.

"you- you almost bit me!" he cried out, eyelights shrinking.

"Hmph, I wasn't actually gonna hurt you," she huffed back. J stepped away from her with narrowed eyes, tensing up as she starting moving again. "It's just training, after all, and besides..." She looked away to where you had gone off to, not finishing her thought aloud, instead smirking as she drew nearer. "Doesn't mean we can't have fun though."

J barely managed to blip away as she pounced again, and felt the tremors she left behind as she landed heavily on the street. He heaved in a breath as he felt a slight strain on his magic, that strain feeling heavier as he saw her turn back around with a new fire lit in her eyes.

The next few moments were composed much the same. A leap and a miss; leap and a miss; leap and a miss. By now he J felt his knees quiver under the weight of his growing exhuastion, and to his dismay he saw just how upbeat Delilah still seemed to be, the dog-person herself tensing up for another jump. He couldn't keep this up for much longer, but what he did have was a new knowledge, that hopefully he could use to put an end to this back and forth between them.

As she leapt, he escaped once more, trailing close towards one of the brick buildings that lined the street. He ran as close as he could to it before he was cut off by Delilah and had to throw himself away from her chasing claws. Before she could try again, he raised his head up to meet her gaze.

"h...hey, this isn't as bad as, hah, as i thought it would be..." He shot a cocky grin at her despite the fear tangled in his Soul. "you kinda suck at this, don't'cha?"

" _What_?" she growled. The playful fire in her eyes diminished as she bore her eyes into him.

"heh, yeah, can't even catch me after all this time, 's kinda sad, really."

"Grrraahh! How dare- I'll show you what's what!"

She exploded into a flurry of action, running at him head on, and he quickly backpedaled until he felt his back hit the cold wall. He saw her leap again at him, and with a triumphant smirk, zapped away in a flash of light.

J heard her harsh yelp right as he came to three feet away. He turned to see, just to make sure, and felt an immense pleasure at seeing Delilah crumpled on the ground, head sporting a large purple bruise that she whimpered at.

_h-holy fuck, it actually worked,_ he thought, somewhat bewildered yet very satisfied that he succeeded.

"heh." He walked up to her when it was clear that she was downed for the time being, letting his blaster out with a flick of the wrist and letting it fly over to her jugular. "so, i guess this means i've won, yeah?"

A low grumble exited her chest, and J tilted his head at the sight of some other emotion in her glaring eyes, asides from hate. Surprisingly, a growly chuckle also left her.

"Hah, guess so, 'n get that thing away from me."

J didn't dismiss his blaster until you arrived, looking doubly proud at him. You helped Delilah stand up before coming over to him, a glimmer of excitement in your eyes as you lifted him up into your warm hands.

"Damn, I wasn't sure what to think at first when I saw you two start, but...J! You did it!"

J's smile turned sincere at the authentic enthusiasm in your voice, and he looked away, a tad embarrassed to hear the praise coming from you.

"heh, does this mean i don't hafta train anymore?"

"J!" Your voice got exasperated. "It's only been two days, geez."

"awww," he whined, making you sigh back at him.

"We'll stop for today," you offered, to which he nodded vigorously.

"Aww, tiring of me already?" Delilah mock pouted as she slung an arm around your shoulder.

You gave her a deadpan look. "Yes."

She gasped dramatically. "No!"

Your lips twitched as you fought against a smirk. "What am I gonna do with you two?"

J and Delilah exchanged looks, a brief moment passing between them.

"Uh, you two okay?" you asked, quirking a brow.

"Yes," they both said simultaneously, shifting their gazes to you as you continued to look them over. You wrinkled your nose at them, looking pointedly at Delilah's bruise and J's many scratches and scraps.

"Come on, let's get you two cleaned up, and then we can maybe watch a movie or something after, yeah?"

The two agreed, and you all left the empty town and headed home.


	14. Happy Halloween!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a mini-chapter for HALLOWEEEEEEEN!!! It's not much and I wrote it all in one day hahaha, so I hope you guys find some enjoyment out of it ^^'  
> (minor spoilers below)  
> Many thanks to windshear and Punny_Fan for the ideas of J's feathery wings and feather-nest gift! And sorry to everyone else, I love all your ideas but using all of them would have been too much, but thank you all for offering your ideas!

J's training continued steady after the first two days, even picking up the pace with multiple sessions on days where you had extra time to dedicate towards it. Asides from the one success he held out against Delilah, he only had one other instance where he 'survived', yet none the less you were still delighted to see the rather quick progress he was making already. Quite a few days had passed since he first started, and today, you found, was the first time you saw him leave the house again. Beyond the yard of your house.

You didn't discover this until after you came home, to where you saw J in all his glory.

"sooooo, what'cha think?" he asked, gesturing to himself.

You started silently. One brow twitched as you glanced over his costume.

J spread out his very fake, very colorful wings for all to see as he wore an impish grin. "well? good, great, or amazing?"

You dragged a hand down your face. "I don't even know what to say."

"amazing then," J decided. You peeked through your fingers with a playful glare.

"Sure, sure," you gave in, trying not to snicker at J's goofy arm flapping.

"i admit, i may have gotten carried away after seeing that you guys had halloween, even if it's a tad...different."

You paused on your way to the kitchen. "You went out?"

"er, yeah?" he stopped moving his arms around. "that's what training is for, after all."

"Yeah, but..." You saw his suddenly downtrodden face and trailed off. "Just, tell me next time? Before you leave?"

"oh, haha, sure. sorry."

"Okay." You smiled again. "Though maybe avoid going out on these kinda days, they get especially rowdy in certain places...what did you even do out there?"

J followed after you as you went into the kitchen, 'porting around until he was up on the counter. "saw everyone getting candy and, er, other things, and decided to get some sweets for myself."

You slowly turned to him, opened your mouth, then closed it in favor of near-desperately working the coffee machine.

"h-hey, it was fine, i swear! nothing too dangerous, and i stuck to the sides away from everyone, so it was fine!"

J startled when you placed your head down on the counter top with a groan. You turned your face towards him before he could worry too hard.

"At least tell me you got something good for it," you murmured, and J grinned wide as he vanished, then returned.

He came back with four pieces of candy, and you lifted your gaze at him.

"hey, it's a lot to me!" he said, immediately guessing at what you were thinking. You snorted and peered closer at the rather ordinary candies.

"also, ah, wait here, i did something else," he teleported off right as you groaned, and he shouted back that it was different than dangerous candy getting.

J looked almost sheepish when he came back. "so uhh, i've been thinking, and- uhh- i just wanted to- hahah, umm, just take this!"

You stilled as he shoved something towards you. It was absurdly bright and colorful, made of the fake feathers, and shaped like a bird's nest. You carefully picked the gift up.

"i know it's nothing to what you've done for me, but, well since you gave me a home i thought i'd give you one too, sorta...it made a lot'a sense in my head, hehe."

"I, uh, I," you stuttered, face reddening," th-this, is for, uh, the bedroom thing?"

J gave you a quizzical look, which quickly turned nervous. "uh, yeah? i thought it'd be nice...do you not like it?"

"Oh, no! I do!" you quickly amended. You quickly brushed aside the unintended romantic gesture for what you knew, logically, was just a friendly one and gave him a wobbly smile.  
"I-I really like it. Thank you."

"oh, heh, cool," J sighed in relief.

The machine beeped, and you leaped to turn your attention to it, quickly taking a cup and prepping it to your liking. Yet even then, you cast a side glance towards the little nest and smiled just a little.

"I'll have to figure out where to put it..." you thought aloud, and J smiled hearing it. You went on, asking, "So, Halloween, you like it?"

J nodded. "yeah, though i never had a lotta times doing anything with it, ya know? just, a lotta things get in the way." He gestured to his small size.

"Oh, well don't feel too bad. I didn't much either."

J seemed surprised. "really?"

You hummed. "I was stuck being a loner during those years. No pack to celebrate with, no time to do much with it..." You stopped before you could delve into anything deeper.

J gave you a blank stare, which carried on for much longer than you felt comfortable with before he snapped out of it with a little jolt.

"i just got the best idea."

You looked at him over the rim of your cup, unsure if you wanted to prompt him to continue. J carried on without it anyways.

"we should go out and celebrate or whatever you guys do on halloween!"

You sputtered on your drink mid-sip. "N-No no no, that-"

"that what?" J interrupted. "it'll be fun is what! ...please?"

J widened his eyes at you pleadingly, and you felt your resolve slip further and further.

"I-I-" Your own eyes turned wide. "I don't even have a costume!"

J pondered this, then vanished. A second later you heard the far away shout of 'wait there!' as J ran around the house. You tried not to think about what you knew he was most likely doing, too indecisive to give chase. A few minutes later J returned with a lump of white fabric.

"i found an old pillowcase, hope you don't mind."

You reached out and held out the...oh god.

"Of course you would." You closed your eyes.

You could sense J's smugness. "put it on, i wanna see!"

You don't know why you humored him, but you did. You opened your eyes and did a half-hearted, little pose.

"How do I look?"

J's eyes sparkled. "it's perfect."

You let a grin slip past your defenses, and at J's ushering, went to check it out yourself in the bathroom mirror.

Staring back at you through the glass was a wrinkly, choppily cut out skeleton mask...made of pillowcase fabric. Just seeing it was enough to make you snort again.

"You. Are. Crazy." You directed at J.

"well that makes us a pair then," J retorted cheekily. "so, change your mind?"

You breathed in deeply through your nose.

"...Yeah, okay."

J gasped sharply. "whooo!"

You offered your hand out to the Sansy, and he stepped on eagerly as you made to leave your house.

"Look at us, going out to snatch up candy and stuff," you remarked, starting to feel your nerves stir. To your shock, it was somewhat enjoyable. "I bet Judy's going around handing our her brownies to everyone, heheheh."

"hehe, well..."

You paused, hand on the doornob. "Huh, what?"

J tilted his skull up at you, deviousness written all over his face. "...pranks?"

You two stared at each other for a while.

"Pranks?" you echoed quietly.

"pranks." J restated.

You slowly opened the door and took the first step out.

You briefly pinched the bridge of your nose, trying to hide a smirk. "...Why am I letting you convince me of doing these things?"

J struck his hands up in the air victoriously. "pranks!"

You chuckled, just a tad darkly. "Alrighty then...pranks."

You and J cackled as the door swung shut behind you.

\- - - - -

That night passed by in a blur. The beginning was slow, yet that was the only slow part of the whole night. After you two tested the waters and grabbed whatever snacks that the friendlier of your pack had been willing to give you, things had gotten crazier. J had, some fucking how, gotten his hands on those brownies you had been musing about earlier (because god damn Judy left a batch out, probably waiting for some poor fool to stumble upon them and take one out of a lapse of judgement), and you decided, fuck it, J wasn't gonna be the only one going down that path tonight. You took one too.

After that mishap, things got very interesting, very quickly. You felt your reservations melt away, feeling stupid and giddy as the two of you got the great idea to drop eggs any and everywhere. Where did you get those eggs again...? You vaguely remember some old guy yelling at you and barely being able to hide J from view. Whatever, your territory didn't have an egg-less spot on it after you two blazed through it.

To your great pleasure, you found quite a few packmates that were equally pleased to see you out and about that night. You stuck around with them after that, trying and failing miserably to hold back your laughter each time J used his magic to mess with them. They were quick to suspect you and kicked you out of their group.

After finding a marker and letting J have a go at drawing bones along your limbs, you both noticed how late it had gotten, and regretfully retired home when the cold became too much. The two of you giggled the whole way home, going in and happily passing out on the living room couch.

Unbeknownst to either of you, your phone began pinging. And pinging. And pinging.

**Deli: Hey! So, umm, don't be mad but...**

**Deli: So i sorta did a thing and said some stuff, haha**

**Deli: its probs not so bad so no need to be too mad ok?**

**Deli: Umm r u there??**

**Deli: Hello?**

**Deli: Ok well i may have told the alpha about jack**

**Deli: just once tho**

**Deli: well it seems like ur busy or whatever so i'll text you later ok? goodnight and happy halloween!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween everyone!


	15. On the Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look there's finally a new chapter!! ;O; Sorry it took this long, had to shift all my focus onto my finals. I wish this chapter was longer to make up for the wait but my energy was shot after this last week. That, and I decided that splitting this chapter into two would work out better in the end. I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter, feel free to tell me what you think about it, and it you have any comments on how I could have made it better, etc. ORRR if there are any ideas for things that you want to see in this fic. I know it's strayed away from being completely written off of prompts for a long time now, but I'm still keeping an eye out for anything that people want to see in it.

It felt like someone disconnected your mind from your body, and you couldn't stop staring at the many messages littering your phone, even as your vision turned blurry and the text warped into unintelligible shapes. You didn't know what to think, what to say. Whatever words rose up immediately died on your lips as you looked back at J, who peered up at you from a sofa arm, worry etched in his features.

Delilah...fucking Delilah. Never before have you been so pissed off at your friend as you were that day.

Your eyes flicked back to the messages as your flustered anxieties shifted to anger. Not only where her messages there, but also one new one. A voice message from your Alpha.  
It was straight to the point, as your Alpha always was.

"Hey birdbutt! A little pupper told me about your little, or rather your bitty situation-" It cut off to raucous, barking laughter for a mere few seconds, before stopping on a dime and going straight back to speaking. "-and I gotta say, I'm interested! How long have you managed to keep the little bugger from all of us? I 'eard its a good fighter, issat true?! Not as good as Dragon I bet- oh wait-" It sounded as though the phone had been jostled, leaving you to wonder to this 'Dragon' was. The name didn't belong to anyone you knew, so who...? "Ah whatever! I'm comin' down there to see if it's true! You better be ready for it!"

That had been the message you awoke to, and the message that was currently plaguing you both.

"the alpha...is she- er, how big of a problem is this gonna be?" J asked, breaking the silence. You didn't seem to hear him, remaining transfixed. Then, as though shaking yourself out of your stupor, you rose from the couch and off to the hallway, closing yourself off into your room as J watched on in worry. You closed the door behind you and dialed Delilah up, hands shaking. It picked up after a few rings.

"Hey-!"

"What the fuck Delilah!" you spat into your phone.

"Woah, hey, what's-"

You cut in again. "You told Alpha about J? What the hell?!"

Delilah yipped, her usual confidence gone. "I-I did...it sorta came up when Alpha asked about the bruising, but I don't get why you're so mad. It's not that big a deal, yeah?"

"A big deal? A big deal?!" you echoed, enraged. "You know I was trying to keep him safe by not telling anyone! And then you go and do this!"

"I-well-you know what?" she yipped, and despite not being able to see her, you could tell that her fur was bristling by now. "It doesn't matter! He's prey. Prey! Someone was gonna try and eat him sooner or later and I don't get why you care so much about it, cause that's just how things are supposed to happen!"

A low growl left you, yet it became broken with short, distressed chirps. "That's how it's gotta be, huh? Just cause he's smaller than everyone else? Cause he's weaker? Can't fight back as well?"

It felt like you were drifting through your mind, seeing parts of your past fall into place like puzzle pieces, seeing your pursuers from some years past, seeing your first meeting with Delilah. The bittersweet memory left you feeling strange. Why were you thinking of this now?

"Yes!" she hissed back, eagerly taking the easy opportunity to push back.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" you shot back, voice going quiet.

"Nothing is wrong with _me_." Delilah drew in an audible breath. "This literally happens every. Damn. Day. And your telling me that that's now how it works?"

She was right, and you hated it. Try as you might, you were left gaping like a gutted fish with nothing to say back, and she spoke up when you took too long to reply.

"I did mean it when I said I was sorry, but that doesn't mean I don't like this whole thing. Ever since he showed up you've been going soft, and sooner or later, it's gonna come back and bite you in the ass...and...I just... _grrrrrr_..."

The ire you felt faded slightly, and your chilled tone eased up a little.

"Then why..." You heard yourself ask her.

"W-Why what?" she yipped back defensively.

"Then why did you help me?" you repeated, and when Delilah puzzled out what you meant you heard her inhale sharply over the phone.

"That's not the same and you know it."

You exhaled slowly, then asked a different question. "Then why help him with training?"

"I- because you asked!"

"You don't always do as I ask, though," you insisted quietly.

Silence...then, "Cause it made you happy or whatever..."

You closed your eyes at the answer.

In the following quiet, you thought back to your current predicament that had lead you to this argument, and bit back a curse.

"I need to go, we'll speak...later."

You stopped the call before you could hear anything that Delilah might have said back afterwards. A long moment stretched out where you remained motionless, only taking in deep breaths as your muscles buzzed with nervous energy. Once it settled enough to allow movement, you pocketed the phone and turned the door knob.

You just barely managed not to step on J on your way out, coming to a quick halt as your eyes met his. He quickly schooled his shocked face into a calmer one, and act that would have fooled any set of eyes not as sharp as your own.

"i, uh, are you- is everything okay?"

Broken from your silence, a scoff slipped past your teeth. "Asides from the alpha coming over here at any time? Peachy...real peachy..."

His brows curved into a dip. "i didn't mean to-"

You waved off his apology. "You didn't- it's fine, it's nothing. What we really need to be focused on is leaving."

"leaving? where to?" he asked, walking (jogging, really) besides you as you went to hurriedly pack up the essentials. You grabbed your empty delivery pack from its place besides the bookshelf and started filling it up. Lucky for you, you were the type to keep most of their things at home instead of at pack headquarters, and things like food, money, a map, and certain creature comforts went inside.

Your first instinct was to say Delilah's, but you bit it back, feeling your stomach twist in response.

"Somewhere, we'll find a place...hopefully," you said, whispering the last word to yourself.

J looked like he wanted to argue on it, but didn't. Or rather, couldn't. What other offer could he have given you, when you yourself didn't have a backup plan and knew so much more than he did at this time? So he swallowed his words and followed as you moved on, angry at himself for not being of more use.

You hesitated as you started for the hall, then veered back into the kitchen. J followed behind and wondered what you were heading for as you stopped at the counter, then pulled open one of the cabinets and pulled out a knife.

"a knife?" J questioned worriedly. "i thought you only fought with your claws?"

You tried to keep your uncertainty from your voice. "I do, I just...like to be prepared."

"prepared, huh." J half asked, half repeated, unsure if he wanted to know. He kept his eyes on the weapon as you slid it into a secure place in your bag, imagination thrashing against his restraint at all the possible situations that might call for its use.

"Yeah," you said, and left it at that. "C'mon, we've spent too much time getting ready as is."

As per usual, you offered a hand to him, and transferred J to a shoulder before making your way to the back door.

By the time you were outside, J had himself safely hidden in your hair and the folds of your jacket, and you jumped the fence of the yard while trying not to jostle him too much. The woods weren't too thick and ended not too far out, but for the meantime you made use of its shelter, tall brown trunks and swaths of greenery easily keeping you from sight.

It ended all too soonly. The last of the pines and heavy foliage petered out, and more buildings and homes sprung up around the streets that cut in through the greenery. The trees may have kept you safe, but you knew it wouldn't last if you stayed, and forced yourself from its comforts and straight for the shadowed backs of the buildings.

"I don't know how far or long Alpha will keep this up, but..." You paused your talking to skirt past the sights of some nearby Beast-Humans. All from your pack, as you still remained firmly in your territory. "they should drop this whole thing after a while, or if we get beyond our home. Even Alpha wouldn't be stubborn enough to continue after that...surely..."

"i hope you're right," J replied, "i'm surprised it's gotten to this though. didn't think me being with you would spark this kinda thing."

You stuck to the dark and clicked your teeth quietly. "I, well, would be lying if I said I was truly surprised. Alpha has a funny way of keeping up the surprises. That, and she likes anything fun, and with the whole Human fiasco going on, anything fun would be up on the tables now."

You both kept silent as you came to the end of the side roads and went to cross the street. Two people argued with each other further down the road, which was slowly gaining a gathering of onlookers.

J picked up the talk as you ducked back into the nearest gap between two houses. "fun, huh?"

Your mind flashed back to when you met him, and one glance at him told you that he was remembering the same. You didn't say anything to that, and tried to go back to figuring out your impromptu plan.

Getting to the end of these back alleys, you found yourself in a place much too populated for your likings. Against the judgment of your frayed nerves, you turn back to search out a different exit.

"are you, uh, sure they are coming? i don't see anyone..."

"They just haven't gotten here yet," you said confidently, picking up the pace and sweeping your sights everywhere. Only dumpsters and random trash lay behind the buildings, and the only scent to greet your nose was decaying food and rotting junk. Following the heed of your paranoia, you brought your eyes up to the sky and stopped in your steps, taking in a stuttering breath. J followed your gaze and saw a winged figure far above them, coming closer with each passing second.

While J couldn't make out many details even when squinting, you saw the dangling collar around their neck that matched your own, and the tilt of their head, which suggested that they both saw and were flying at you.

"God damn," you hissed, swiftly turning away from the figure and retracing your steps back to the crowded streets. You peeked out to see if anyone from the crowd seemed to be looking for something, and only merged into the masses when you were satisfied that none were.

You kept your hood up and your head down, trying to keep to the sides as much as possible while hoping that your winged pursuer lost you in the crowds. Yet despite this, someone bumped into you and jostled you into looking up at them.

"Hey! Watch where you're- oh, well hello there!"

Two faces peered at you with sharp smiles. One sported the ears and tail that were recognizably those of a fox, and the other had round, brown ears and a surprisingly fluffy bob tail. Any cuteness from the second vanished at the sight of her long, flesh-shredding claws.

"A-Ah, hello Frank, Trynn, I know it's been a while but I have somewhere to be."

Evading the duo only lasted a moment before Frank sputtered out another 'Hey!' before dashing back to your side. He smirked widely at your expression.

"And where would that be? Some place more important than back at the den?"

The reminder of your avoidance with head quarters made you flinch. You weren't particularly seen often there either way, but perhaps you had been absent too much recently, to the point that your packmates began to notice. You really doubted he cared personally, so that only left...

"Frank," you seethed quietly, putting as much cold wrath into your eyes as you fixed a steely gaze on him, "this isn't worth your time, just back off."

Neither he or Trynn stepped down at the unspoken threat, both appearing amused rather than intimidated.

Your instinct suddenly screamed at you to dodge, and you leapt to the side right as Frank's arm lashed out for your own.

"Oh really?" he purred, "because I think it'll be as fun as any other bitty hunt!"

You sidestepped his second attempt to grab you, then broke out into a run. Everyone around you either stumbled away with a gasp, or were easily ran around as you made it to the end of the street and rounded the nearest corner. Very few stood in your way then, and with less noise you easily heard the chasing footsteps right behind you.

In a flash, you had your wings spread wide and flapping, even though J wasn't secure, even though there wasn't any time to launch yourself up. Only a second was spent with your feet off the ground before someone bashed into your side and sent your body flying into the closest wall.

"Hah! That was pathetic, even for you," Frank laughed, Trynn grunting in agreement. You hastily picked yourself up and checked J as both came closer and blocked you in to ensure you couldn't try another escape.

"Hmph, maybe we should ditch the others and just take the prey for ourselves for all the trouble they gave us, eh Trynn?"

The large bear-esk female swiped her tongue over her lips in wordless reply, and both drew closer, eating into your small space step by step. With desperate movements, you ripped open your bag and rapidly pulled out the knife you had packed away, startling the duo. Much to your horror, they didn't retreat, only becoming more agitated. You gripped the weapon tightly in one hand, talons spread wide in the other, when-

"Oh? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I just 'eard two of my own fluffers saying that they'd ditch me with the little bones..."

Both froze in their spots, as did you. The two turned while you looked up to see the looming figure of none other than your Alpha, who had finally arrived to the scene alongside the few others that leered at you, intrigued and eager.


	16. A Battle of Tiny Proportions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh snap an update ;O;  
> Sorry for the unprompted haitus guys, I'm gonna talk more about that down below. Until then, here's the next chapter (finally)

"Oh? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I just 'eard two of my own fluffers saying that they'd ditch me with the little bones..."

That voice. Your Alpha.

You craned your neck and saw her in a new light, all those muscles sliding underneath dark skin and hardy green scales neither reassuring or challenging, as they had been before. Those slitted pupils looked between you and J in the same manner that you've seen her regard juicy looking rabbits, yet knowing her as you did, you knew she was holding back now. Why?

The question rang through your mind as your two ex-pursuers took a sheepish step to the sidelines of the group, heads hanging submissively when Judy cast them sharp glances.

"Ah, now that's more like it." Judy smirked, long tail swishing once behind her. "And now, what we're here for..." She turned her eyes back on you, sharp teeth bared in a grin.

"Alpha," you started, readying your stance into a defensive one, "this isn't worth it, he's just one bitty. Why come all this way just for one bitty?" You kept your voice as calm as you could keep it as you tried to stir some sense into Judy.

Her smirk widened, and with an almost playful tilt of the head, she responded, "You're right. Normally one itty bitty pile'a bones wouldn't be worth it..."

She trailed off purposely, and even knowing that she wanted you to ask the obvious, you didn't care to call her out on it. "And why is now different?"

Your Alpha studied her claws for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, and she only went on with it when something in her jacket pocket gave a suspicious lurch.

"Eh! Don't start with me!" she growled at...her jacket? Your alpha was strange at times, but even this was bizarre for her.

"Anywhooooo," She faced you again, "It IS different this time, feather fuzz. It's different cuz, not only have you been hiding this from me, but that little skele has been trained, as I've 'eard it. But no matter how much trainin' he has, he'll never be better than Dragon, right fellas?!"

Alpha sent a hard look around at the few who helped her track you down, and all collectively nodded and spoke their too-eager agreement.

"Dragon?" you asked, feeling J look at you from his perch on your shoulder. That was the second time you've heard of the person, yet you had no idea who that was. J seemed to become more distressed when it became apparent that you were clueless about this mystery person.

"Yeah, you don't know him cuz of how little time you spend with all'a us, fuzzy," Alpha scolded, but she quickly went back to smiling devilishly. "He showed up a few days ago and proved 'imself pack-material, even though he's tiny as fuck and everyone was tryna kill him and stuff, hahaha! He gave me a new shiny scar even after stealing my brownies, can you believe that? He's fuckin' amazing."

You briefly glanced at the scar as Judy pointed it out; it was long and cut straight across her leg.

"And what does this have to do with J?" you asked, yanking your attention back to what mattered.

"EVERYTHING!" Judy suddenly roared, and you backed yourself further against the cold brick wall. She ignored it as she reached into her jacket pocket and began to remove something from inside it. "I already know Dragon can whoop ass back at the den, but I 'ave'nt seen him fight another bitty yet!"

And there is was. Judy held out what she grabbed from her jacket in the palms of her hands, and you and J were struck silent.

"a boss..." J finally spoke, voice so quiet that even you nearly missed what he said.

In her hands was exactly that; a boss bitty. A bitty. A proud looking, sharp toothed, black and red wearing tiny skeleton.

Maybe saying it aloud would make it less impossible to believe.

"A bitty...?"

Nope. Didn't work.

And was that a tiny collar around his neck?!

"NYEH HEH HEH! YES, YOU TWO SHOULD BE AFRAID!" the boss roared, misplacing your looks of bewilderment for those of terror.

"Alpha," you began, "what th-"

"WAIT A MINUTE!" the boss suddenly exclaimed. He gestured for Judy to put him down, and stomped confidently right up to you. His eyesockets seemed to be honed in on your shoulder rather than on yourself. "I'VE SEEN YOU BEFORE! I'M SURPRISED YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, MAYBE YOU WILL PROVE TO BE A FORMIDABLE FIGHT AFTER ALL..."

From the corner of your eye, you saw J still and look down at the boss, eyes narrowed in concentration. They lit up a moment later. "holy shit, you're from the hunt...!"

"J, what...?" you started to ask, then realized that he knew no more than you did when he cast you an overwhelmed glance.

Instead, you turned back to your Alpha. Your nerves were trembling under all the chaos, yet you fought to keep your voice icy and your eyes sharp. "Alpha, just what in the hell is going on? Why target J if you have your own bitty now?!"

"Oh fluffins, I expect better from you," she giggled, and you hated how that reminded you of Delilah. "Of course Dragon is different than your street pet, and we're here to prove it, boney fists to boney fists!"

"what?!" J snapped his head up, eyes alight with freshened fear.

"No," you refused, "this is stupid! I won't-"

Judy spoke your name in a chilling tone of voice. "Are you...disobeying your Alpha?"

"..."

Her accusation struck you silent, fear and rage bubbling under your skin, only being held back by the thin barricade of your fangs.

"And...if he wins?" you choked out, eyes steely and challenging.

J whipped around to face you, face entirely shocked.

Judy broke into another laughing fit. "As if he'll win against my Dragon-!"

"And. If. He. Wins?" you asked again.

Your Alpha went quiet, finally acknowledging the fact that you spoke with the full mercilessness of the winter season. She adopted a serious stance as she appraised you.  
"If he loses, he dies. If he wins..." she started slowly, and you found yourself leaning forward. Everyone else gathered around perked up, looking interested as something actually seemed to be happening now. "then he-"

You cut in. "If he wins, then he becomes a part of the pack, like Dragon is. Full packship, full protection, and especially no hunting him."

A few protests arose the otherwise shocked crowd, but Judy brought a clawed hand up, and they went quiet.

"pack membership?!" J whispered to you, full of awe and terror and hope and confusion.

On the inside, you felt much the same. What the hell did you just propose? Packship for J? There was no way-it would never work-what might the others do is it actually happened-

And what if he lost?

A full body tremor shook through you, and Judy's next words nearly evaded you.

"That's awfully demanding of your Alpha, fluffykins..." A moment, then, "but it's not like he'll win anyways! So fine! Ahahahaha!"

Alpha began clearing out a fighting area by ushering everyone else back, and you turned to J, practically radiating apologies and anxiety. He met your gaze back with his own concerned sockets, hands fisted tightly at his sides.

"We can still try to escape, if you don't want to do this...sorry, I wasn't really thinking when I said it."

J clearly wanted nothing more than to flee all this madness, but held back as he thought it over.

"even if we ran, they'd still know. they'd just find us again later..."

You hummed sadly, having already known the same but needing to ask him anyways.

"I won't let him- if thing's start to look bad I'll grab you and run anyways, okay?"

J gave a shaky nod.

The Alpha's booming voice made both of you jolt to attention. "ALRIGHTY! We're ready when you are!"

Kneeling on the ground, you slowly brought J into your hands and placed him down, close to where the boss stood waiting with a cocky grin.

"You can do this," you murmured softly, "you have training, you can fight, you can win this."

J seemed so, so uncertain, and you wanted nothing more than to pick him back up and fly away, far from this place with him. "yeah, but it's different, he's my size, not yours."

You would have chuckled at how silly that sounded if the mood wasn't so somber. "I know, but you still learned how to use an enemy's weakness, and strength, against them. Use that here, it will work and you will win."

"you sound so certain..."

"Well, I did help train you, so yeah," you said, trying to give him some confidence to work with.

"heh." The small laugh slipped out, and he managed a weak smile. "yeah, alright, i trust you on this."

A pang went through your heart at the confession, and before you knew it, J went and faced the boss, Alpha and the others having gotten impatient and raring to see a brawl.

He trusts me...

The thought rang through your head, and even as it made your heart clench painfully as you wondered if you could hold up such trust, it made you all the more determined to see that J won.

And, one way or another, that was going to happen.

It just had to.

You would make sure of it.

\- - - - -

Every step away from you and towards his foe was like trying to trudge through waist-high mud, and he could almost feel the weight pulling at his feet, trying to make him turn back. Yet he was already here, right before the boss, and it was too late to reconsider now.

"NYEH HEH HEH! ARE YOU READY TO BE BEATEN?"

"heh, you're pretty sick, you know that?" J retorted, feeling his frenzied nerves jumpstart his anger. "you know what it's like to be hunted 'n targeted, yet here you are, looking to- shit!"

J leapt away not a moment too soon as a trio of sharpened bones shot by like bullets.

"what the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"HMPH! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME, IT'S YOU WHO IS TOO SOFT!"

Once again, more bones appeared, spiking up from the concrete below in zig-zagging patterns. J 'ported in rapid succession to avoid them. The sharp edges cut across his jacket and body whenever he failed to be quick enough to evade them.

"yeah, and you're too thick in the skull!" he shot back while throwing out his own bones. "if you would just stop-"

"ARGH, JUST SHUT YOUR TRAP AND FIGHT!"

J was forced to do just that as Dragon rushed forward and slammed a fist into his head that sent him sprawling. Panicked and pained, he scrambled to get to his feet while summoning a blaster to keep the boss away. A pained yelp and howl sounded as he found his grounding.

Within seconds, the blaster was hit across with so many bones that it had to flee back to the void.

The boss turned back to him.

His thoughts raced for solutions, and as the boss rushed forth again it seemed to click. J vanished before the boss' eyes, bones springing up in his place and cutting into the other.

"RAHH! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

Dragon rushed forward again, but leapt back when more bones erupted from J's vacant space. He nearly crowed his self-praise before suddenly being struck from above.

A loud growl escaped him as he turned and faced a huffing J.

"ENOUGH OF THIS."

Dragon stayed rooted in place as he instead sent out wave after wave of attacks, driving J all over the area just to dodge them. He blocked away all of J's largest attacks and took all the ones that he could handle taking, purely focused on running J dry of his magic.

And it was working. J heaved for more air and the magic between his fingers fizzled erratically. More and more cuts appeared over his clothes and body before a large femur knocked him back to the ground. J grunted as he landed before looking up into the triumphant gaze of Dragon.

"I WON'T LIE AND SAY THAT YOU FOUGHT WELL, WORM, BUT AT LEAST YOU WEREN'T A TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT." Dragon summoned a spear-like bone in one hand and readied it above J.

J flinched and pushed himself back against the ground, eyes shut tight as he waited for the last strike. One wheezy gasp escaped him, then another, and by the third one he opened one eye again and peered up in fearful confusion.

He saw the spear, yet it didn't move an inch, and he looked up further to see Dragon looking off beyond him. There was something very off about him in that moment. He seemed completely frozen to this spot as he stared at whatever caught his sights.

J wasted no more time wondering and kicked up with both legs. Both feet drove into Dragon's midsection and sent him stumbling wildly back, sockets swiveling back to him as J scrambled to his feet.

"Y-YOU-!" Dragon stuttered, sending more attacks. This time J only cast one bone and used it to knock away the assault, taking no notice of the faint, ridged shadows that just managed to reach out into the battle space.

For a time, it seemed like Dragon might gain the upper hand again, yet once more he would freeze up in that odd manner, eyes fixed beyond J, allowing his opponent to retaliate.

The battle didn't last much longer than that. J threw his confusion to the side for later as he paced himself, gathering up enough magic and battering Dragon with a sudden onslaught of hyper-gravity. The taller fell to his knees with a grunt, and a second later he was staring straight down the glowing gullet of J's blaster.

Silence reigned out over the street, only broken by J's softening breaths and the slight shifts of the breeze.

"I don't know about you, alpha," you quietly spoke up, and it seemed that a spell broke over everyone, "but that looks like a win to me."

J cast one last look at Dragon and, sensing that the fight was gone from the boss, turned his gaze to you. He saw you still kneeling on the ground, muscles tensed and wings slightly parted, with cold-hard eyes cutting straight out towards Judy.

At the lack of a response he switched over to Judy, who held an expression he wasn't entirely sure how to describe. 'Bewildered' and 'wounded pride' was only scratching the surface.

"Grrr...grrahhh! Yes, fine, I guess! He won!" Judy threw up her hands and stomped around in a tight circle, and everyone around her stumbled to give her some space. During this he felt himself scooped up into your hands, and before he knew it he let out a deeply relieved breath and felt his bones turn to jelly.

"Yes, he did," he heard you say, and he tilted his head up and saw your tired eyes looking back at him. More than that, there was a shimmering pride in them that had him turning back away, flustered yet pleased.

Around Judy, others began to mutter between themselves, things like "now what?", "I can't believe we have another bitty pack-mate now..." and "I don't wanna deal with this, I came out to hunt!".

Judy's ears twitched, and she stopped her tantrum to face her pack. "If you want to hunt, then get! Everyone else, hmm..."

A wicked grin grew on her face, and swiveling around she marched back and slung an arm around your shoulders.

"Everyone else can come back to the Den with us to welcome our new member!"

You startled as she began tugging you forward into a walk, a few others jumping up to crowd around the Alpha. Not even a moment to adjust to the fact that J was safe, and you were already being whisked around to something else.

One look down at the equally overwhelmed J, and you knew your next course of action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so first, sorry for the long wait!  
> I hadn't intended on letting this sit for so long. I got struck with a loss of motivation, and whenever I thought about writing I would get too nervous to actually do it. I know it sounds like an excuse, but it's really been killing my energy. I'm gonna do my best to keep this alive anyways, because despite that I do still want to see this finished, both for the story itself and the goal I had when I wrote the first chapter. I do have two ideas on what I will do if that doesn't work, so that even if I can't write everything, this fic will still be given an ending (as I said in the first chapter), so don't worry too much.
> 
> Now, onto the actual fic itself, I have two ideas on what the next(ish) chapter will be...but can't decide between them, so I'm gonna leave you guys to vote on it! Would you rather-  
> 1) Have Reader and J get courted off to the Den? Or,  
> 2) Have them escape at the next evaluable moment?


	17. Mini Chapter: The Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small ~500 words going into detail of Boss's perspective during the battle.

_HA, THIS WILL BE AN EASY WIN_ , Dragon thought as he glared out at his foe. Or rather, his prey that walked forward with timid and reluctant steps. The sight alone was enough to make him break out into hardy, mocking laughter.

Feeling the eager gazes on his back, and his own self-pampered superiority, Dragon cut of J's speech with a toss of the hand, his violent red magic firing sharpened bones at the other. 

As J's words sunk in, his smirk vanished, and a rage began to brew. How dare this weakling try and school him, to preach to him, to look back at him with that disgusted expression as though he knew more than the Great Dragon did! He knew nothing. Nothing! He threw words and bones back alike as J kept grating on his nerves.

What did this little fuck think he was? Telling him that he was sick for fighting, when you had to fight to survive! Going by the looks of things, he probably didn't even need to tough it out on the streets. Just sat back and cozied up with some equally weak beastie who didn't have the guts to eat something that could talk. Meanwhile, he had to risk life and limb out on the streets. He was lucky enough to find food and shelter at the Den, then even luckier when he managed to impress Judy enough to keep her from eating him, to instead keeping him around for fun. He had nearly lost his life a dozen times over in just that instance alone.

And so, it was only with his greatest pleasure that he attacked the little slacker. To hunt him down across the street and wear down his magic until he was too tired to avoid the brunt swing of the Boss's summoned femur.

"I WON'T LIE AND SAY THAT YOU FOUGHT WELL, WORM, BUT AT LEAST YOU WEREN'T A TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT," he growled. His spine tingled as he aimed a spear-like bone above the wheezing Sansy. At first he thought it was the nerves of battle, but the feeling grew and grew, and soon he found himself paralyzed. Looking around, he found that he was the only one to notice it.

Something wasn't right. Something was...

Everything seemed to press down at him at once, dark and oppressive, seething with a cold and dreadful malice. Something black stretched across the ground, almost seeming to twist and curl sharply. Or was that just his imagination? He didn't dare draw a breath yet he somehow found his eyes being beckoned upwards, as though controlled by an outside force. And what he saw froze the magic in his bones.

Everything about you was, in that moment, terrifying. You were crouched over, closer than before, tensed with your wings slightly parted. The feathery tips cast knife-sharp shadows across the cold concrete, creating a spiked pattern much like the gaping jaws of a beast.

But more than anything else, your eyes were merciless.

They were not the eyes of Judy, or any of her pack, or even of those who chased him down through the alleys and backstreets. He had seen all manner of things is the eyes of others; hunger, excitement; playfulness, apathy, curiosity, boredom, anger, frustration... They were the eyes of those who sought out mere primal satisfaction.

Your eyes held none of those things.

These were not the eyes of a hunter, and they did not hold threats.

These were the eyes of the SOUL, and they held _promises_.

Even as he lost the fight, and stared down the maw of a charged blaster, he couldn't get the sight of your eyes out of his shaken mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that answered your question of what distracted Dragon! ^^  
> So far I have four votes for option 1 and two for 2. I expected 2 to be the more popular one to be honest, I wonder if it will stay that way...  
> In the chance that 1 wins, is there anything specific about the Den that you guys were hoping to see? If so I'll do my best to work it in, same goes for option 2.  
> I will also keep the vote going for one more day after this.  
> Edit: The vote is over, thanks to everyone who voted!
> 
> asdfgh also legit forgot the word for 'concrete' while writing and had to google it are you guys proud of me?? X'D


End file.
